Humboldt County, IA – A former teacher in Humboldt County pled guilty in federal court on Wednesday, April 30 to sexual exploitation of a student.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District of Iowa, it was in a plea hearing that 32-year-old Samantha Meyer-Davis from Rutland pled guilty to the charge of sexual exploitation of a child. She admitted that from May 2022 through November 2023, she was engaged in sexually exploiting a student as well as disseminating and exhibiting obscene materials to the victim.
Meyer-Davis was a teacher at Humboldt Middle School at the time of the incidents and had met with school administrators on several occasions, denying the inappropriate relationship.
The press release states that administrators in the Humboldt Community School District reminded Meyer-Davis of her “professional and ethical obligations to her students and encouraged her to cease and desist any inappropriate relationship with the student.”
When she was interviewed by law enforcement, the press release states she continued to deny any inappropriate relationship until she was confronted with photographic evidence of her kissing the student who was in a state of undress. Evidence was also presented of Meyer-Davis and the victim exchanging over 130 photographs and over 60 videos related to and depicting child pornography, including materials that portrayed sadistic and masochistic conduct.
Sentencing before U.S. District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set after a presentence report is prepared and Meyer-Davis remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.
She faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment with a possible maximum sentence of 30 years, a $250,000 fine, and at least five years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
Investigating the case were the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Iowa Special Enforcement Operations Bureau, and the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.