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A 36-year-old Cedar Rapids man, who had sex with a woman during a traffic stop while he was working as a member of local law enforcement, was sentenced to six months in federal prison today.

Kevin Sims received the prison term after pleading guilty in January to one count of depriving another of civil rights. At the guilty plea, Sims admitted he was a patrol officer with the Cedar Rapids Police Department during the spring of 2004 and on-duty when he stopped a woman he knew through earlier bar checks. Sims made the stop without contacting dispatch. When the woman informed him that her driver's license was under suspension, Sims again neglected to contact dispatch for a status check and, instead, instructed the woman to pull her vehicle into a nearby park.

At that location, Sims and the woman engaged in sexual intercourse while he was still on duty, in his police uniform, and with his firearm still in his holster. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the woman voluntarily engaged in the act believing that by doing what Sims wanted she would escape any criminal charges. Although admitting to driving while under suspension, the woman was not arrested by Sims and was given no other citation.

Three years later, Sims was interviewed by FBI agents. He initially denied the accusations in relation to the traffic stop, but, when confronted with "other information," admitted to having intercourse with the woman. To date, law enforcement has not explained how this case surfaced three years after the fact or the nature of the "information" which led to Sims' confession.

Sims was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles to six months in federal prison. A special assessment of $25 was imposed, as well as a fine of $2,000, and he will serve one year on supervised release after he serves his prison sentence. There is no parole in the federal system. Sims was released on a bond previously set and is to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on a date yet to be set. As a condition of his guilty plea, the former officer waived the right to appeal his conviction or sentence. As a further condition of the plea, Sims was required to resign as a police officer and is forever barred from serving as a sworn law enforcement officer.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney C.J. Williams and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the cooperation and assistance of the Cedar Rapids Police Department.