02/10/2025
February 10, 2025
**PRESS RELEASE**
On November 21, 2024, an employee of the Columbus Junction School District discovered a hidden cell phone and a charging battery that were disguised in a small cardboard box, painted to blend in with the color scheme inside the school. The box and devices were immediately turned over to the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office. The owner was identified as Coletrane Alan Sipes, age 23, of Columbus Junction, IA. Sipes was discovered to be a substitute teacher at Columbus Junction high school at that time.
A search warrant was executed on Sipes’s residence on November 23, 2024; where multiple mini cameras and electronic devices were seized for analysis. After a three-month long investigation, multiple search warrants and interviews, it was determined Sipes was taking photos and videos of a specific juvenile female student while at the school and outside of the school without her knowledge or consent. The student and her parents were notified promptly of the situation to ensure the safety of the student. No other students were involved in this investigation.
After interviews with Sipes and the victim it was determined Sipes was engaging in a course of conduct directed at the student that would cause that person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened and it was also determined Sipes knew that a juvenile female student would feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened if a male teacher was conducting this type of behavior towards her.
Additionally, one of the devices seized at Sipes’s residence was a cell phone belonging to Curtis Canny, Sipes’s stepfather. The extraction of this device showed several sexually explicit images of juveniles that appeared to be downloaded from the internet. No juveniles on Canny’s phone were students of Columbus Junction schools.
On January 31, 2025; Sipes was placed under arrest for 1 count of stalking involving a person under the age of 18 and utilizing a technological device while committing stalking. This charge is a Class C Felony.
On January 31, 2025; Canny was placed under arrest for 7 counts of possession of child po*******hy. Each count is an aggravated misdemeanor. The investigation into Curtis Canny is on-going and further charges are possible.
**A charge is merely an accusation; all parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law**
