A 43-year-old man has been sentenced to up to five years in state prison after pleading guilty to grooming a juvenile girl in Sac County.
Court records show Joshua Wayne Phillips was sentenced Sept. 28 in Iowa District Court for Sac County on a Class D felony conviction for grooming.
According to the Sac County Attorney’s Office, Phillips used Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp and text messages over several months in early 2026 to build a romantic relationship with the girl and entice her to engage in sexual conduct with him.
Authorities say Phillips used code words to evade content monitoring and moved conversations to an app with disappearing messages. The case came to light after a friend of the girl reported concerns to school officials. A Sac City police detective then preserved the messages before they could be deleted.
The Sac City Police Department investigated the case, which was prosecuted by the Sac County Attorney’s Office.
District Court Judge Derek Johnson sentenced Phillips to an indeterminate prison term of up to five years. The sentencing order directed Phillips to report to the Sac County Sheriff’s Office by 10 a.m. Oct. 2 to begin serving his sentence. He was also given credit for time already served in connection with the case.
Under the court’s order, Phillips will face an additional 10-year special sentence under the supervision of the Iowa Department of Corrections, as if he were on parole, after completing the underlying sentence. The order also requires him to register on the Iowa Sex Offender Registry for life under the terms of that special sentence.
The court noted that Phillips may be eligible for a reduction in his prison term through earned-time, work and program credits, and may be eligible for parole before the sentence is discharged.
Iowa law defines grooming as using in-person conduct, electronic communications or written communication to entice or attempt to entice a child — defined as someone younger than 18 — to engage in unlawful sexual conduct. The offense is classified as a Class D felony.
The court also ordered a separate no-contact order prohibiting Phillips from contacting the victim for five years from the date of the judgment.
