A fundraiser for an Iowa teen who killed a man she was pimped out to covered the $150,000 restitution she was ordered to pay his family in less than 24 hours.
The GoFundMe effort for Pieper Lewis, 17 — launched by her former math teacher Leland Schipper — collected more than $350,000 by Thursday morning from over 9,000 donors. Schipper had upped the goal to $200,000 on Wednesday.
Schipper wrote the extra cash will help Lewis pursue a college degree or start her own business — and give her “the financial capacity to explore ways to help other young victims of sex crimes!”
As a 15-year-old runaway sleeping in the hallways of a Des Moines apartment building, Lewis alleged she was pimped out to multiple men, among them 37-year-old Zachary Brooks.
Pieper Lewis, 17, was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury. AP
Lewis’ former teacher has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help her pay the restitution, which has now raised more than $350,000. GoFundMeAfter Brooks allegedly raped the teen multiple times, she grabbed a knife and stabbed him 30 times, killing him, in June 2020. Prosecutors argued the teen attacked Brooks while he was asleep and posed no immediate threat.
Lewis was originally charged with first-degree murder in the horrific case; last year she agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter and willful injury.
At a sentencing hearing Tuesday, Polk County District Judge David Porter ordered the teen to serve five years of supervised probation and to pay $150,000 in restitution to Brooks’ family, saying “this court is presented with no other option” because of Iowa’s state law.
Lewis was 15 and being trafficked for sex in 2020 when she fatally stabbed Zachary Brooks 30 times. Henderson's Highland Park FuneraUnder the conditions of her release, if Lewis violates her probation, she could be sent to prison for 20 years. She’ll also have to wear a GPS device and serve 200 hours of community service.
“My spirit has been burned, but still glows through the flames,” Lewis read from a prepared statement during the hearing. “Hear me roar, see me glow, and watch me grow. I am a survivor.”
During her two years in juvenile detention, Lewis earned her GED.
At her sentencing on Tuesday, Lewis, who earned her GED while in lockup, described herself as a “survivor.” AP“Pieper wants to go to college, she wants to create art, and she wants to advocate for other girls who find themselves in situations like she endured,” Schipper wrote in the GoFundMe description. “She does not deserve a massive debt looming over her, holding her back from pursuing her ambitions.”
With Post wires
