SIOUX CITY -- A former Briar Cliff University student accused of using fraudulent checks to pay for sex in his dorm room, and possibly infecting his sexual partners with an unknown disease, pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felonies.
Davion Sandifer, 20, pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery, a class D felony. Woodbury County District Court Judge Tod Deck accepted Sandifer's plea Tuesday after Sandifer answered a series of questions about the charges and his actions.
"I did in fact make a fraudulent check," Sandifer told the court.
As part of a plea agreement, Sandifer also pleaded guilty to five counts of criminal transmission of a contagious or infectious disease, which are serious misdemeanors. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss three other counts of forgery and five counts of prostitution.
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Sandifer, of Austin, Texas, is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 11. He faces up to five years in prison for each felony count.
Sandifer, who had been held in the Woodbury County Jail, was released Tuesday on his own recognizance, pending sentencing. After he begins pretrial supervision, he will be allowed to travel back to Texas, where his family lives.
Sandifer
Sandifer was arrested Oct. 24 after the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was notified that five males from the Harlan, Iowa, area, ranging in age from 17 to 19 years old, had been paid with checks to engage in sexual activities with Sandifer in his dorm room in Briar Cliff's Alverno Hall on Oct. 20 and Oct. 22. According to court documents, Sandifer gave each person a digitally produced Bank of America check with his name on it, ranging in value from $30,000 to $600,000.Â
Davion Sandifer, 20, of Austin, Texas, leans over to talk to his attorney, John Loos, during a plea hearing Tuesday in Woodbury County District Court in Sioux City. Sandifer, a former Briar Cliff University student, pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery and entered a written guilty plea to five counts of criminal transmission of a contagious or infectious disease. Three other counts of forgery and five counts of prostitution were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.
Investigators have not said how Sandifer met the five males or what prompted one or more of them to file a report with police in Harlan.
Authorities searching Sandifer's dorm room found checks and check stubs matching checks given to the five males he met with. Fraudulent checks made out to other unknown individuals and 27 pages of blank checks also were found.
The amounts of the checks for the two forgery counts he pleaded guilty to Tuesday were not specified in court.Â
Briar Cliff has said Sandifer, who had been a member of the men's volleyball team, is no longer a student there and is not allowed on campus. Sandifer told Deck on Tuesday that he completed one semester at the Sioux City school.
List: Arrests booked into the Woodbury County Jail this week
Here are several bookings by the Woodbury County Sheriff's Department from the week of Nov. 28-Dec 4. This is not a complete list of bookings.
Record of an arrest is not an indication of guilt. All defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty. A past collection is available here.
Date booked: 12/4/2019. Charge: possession of marijuana. Bond amount: $1,000.
Date booked: 12/4/2019. Charges: operating without owners consent, possession of drugs. Bond amount: $3,000.
Date booked: 12/4/2019. Charges: possession of drugs, driving with suspended license. Bond amount: $1,600.
Date booked: 12/4/2019. Charges: felony eluding, theft. Bond amount: $10,000.
Date booked: 12/4/2019. Charge: driving while barred. Bond amount: $2,000.
Date booked: 12/4/2019. Charges: possession of drugs, hold for U.S. Marshal. Bond amount: $1,000.
Date booked: 12/3/2019. Charge: robbery. Bond amount: $5,000.
Date booked: 12/3/2019. Charges: interference with official acts, public intoxication, aggravated theft. Bond amount: $2,600.
Date booked: 12/2/2019. Charges: driving with suspended license, driving while barred, no vehicle insurance, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a non-marijuana controlled substance. Bond amount: $5,000.
Date booked: 12/2/2019. Charges: possession of drug paraphernalia, carrying concealed/dangerous weapon. Bond amount: $1,300.
Date booked: 12/2/2019. Charge: probation violation. Bond amount: $1,000.
Date booked: 12/1/2019. Charges: no contact order, simple domestic assault. Bond amount: $2,000.
Date booked: 12/1/2019. Charges: driving while barred, hold for Nebraska. Bond amount: $1,000.
Date booked: 12/1/2019. Charges: possession of a non-marijuana controlled substance, carrying concealed/dangerous weapon, failure to comply with court orders. Bond amount: $2,000.
Date booked: 11/30/2019. Charges: robbery, serious police assault, felony assault, interference with official acts, failure to obey police officer, public intoxication. Bond amount: $50,000.
Date booked: 11/30/2019. Charge: serious assault. Bond amount: $1,000.
Date booked: 11/29/2019. Charges: vehicle burglary, hold for Iowa. Bond amount: $1,000.
Date booked: 11/29/2019. Charges: possession of drugs, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, interference with official acts, no drivers license, driving with suspended license. Bond amount: $3,500.
Date booked: 11/29/2019. Charges: absence from custody, convict mittimus. Bond amount: $1,000.
Date booked: 11/29/2019. Charges: possession of drugs, drug tax stamp. Bond amount: $25,000.
Date booked: 11/28/2019. Charges: no contact order, criminal mischief. Bond amount: $1,500.
Date booked: 11/28/2019. Charge: simple domestic assault. Bond amount: $1,000.
Date booked: 11/28/2019. Charges: OWI, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, driving while barred, driving with suspended license. Bond amount: $2,000.
Date booked: 11/28/2019. Charges: serious assault, no contact order. Bond amount: $2,000.
Date booked: 11/27/2019. Charge: OWI. Bond amount: $10,000.
Date booked: 11/27/2019. Charge: parole violation. Bond amount: $20,000.
Date booked: 11/27/2019. Charge: probation violation. Bond amount: $10,000.
Date booked: 11/27/2019. Charges: burglary, theft, interference with emergency communications, no contact orders. Bond amount: $10,300.
Date booked: 11/27/2019. Charges: absence from custody, compulsory education, convict mittimus. Bond amount: $2,000.
Date booked: 11/27/2019. Charges: possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, possession of a non-marijuana controlled substance, drug tax stamp, failure to appear. Bond amount: $35,000.
Date booked: 11/26/2019. Charge: parole violation. Bond amount: $20,000.
PHOTOS: Woodbury County Courthouse past and present
First courthouse
The first Woodbury County Courthouse, 1878-1918, stood at the southeast corner of Sixth and Pierce streets.
Courthouse construction
The Woodbury County Courthouse is under construction in this photo from Sept. 19, 1916.
Courthouse construction
The Woodbury County Courthouse is shown under construction in this photo from May 24, 1917. The courthouse opened the following year.
Courthouse drawing
An early drawing of the Woodbury County Courthouse is shown.
Courthouse dome
The Woodbury County Courthouse dome is under construction in this photo from Oct. 17, 1917.
'Western Architect'
A page from "The Western Architect" publication from February 1921, showing the interior of the Woodbury County Courthouse.
'Western Architect'
A page from "The Western Architect" publication from February 1921, showing the interior of the Woodbury County Courthouse.
Courthouse and City Hall
Traffic drives on Douglas Street in front of the Woodbury County Courthouse, left, and Sioux City Hall in about 1965. City Hall was found to be tipping in January 1965.
Woodbury County Courthouse
The current Woodbury County courthouse.
Courthouse interior
A view from inside the Woodbury County Courthouse.
Light fixtures
Light fixtures inside the Woodbury County Courthouse.
Courthouse mail chute
The 90-year-old mail chute in the Woodbury County Courthouse was shut down in 2011 because it didn't meet U.S. Postal Service requirements for public access.
Courthouse security
Woodbury County Sheriff Dave Drew is shown in the county courthouse in a April 2015 photo.
Courthouse elevators
The elevators of the Woodbury County Courthouse, which date to 1918, are shown.
Courtroom repairs
Kenny Schmitz, Woodbury County Building Services director, climbs over a bench in Courtroom 203 on the second-floor of the county courthouse in July 2016. The courtroom was closed while workers repaired a slab of marble that fell out of a window surround and almost caused stained glass windows to fall out of their frames.
Courthouse terra cotta
Straps and a board hold up a failing terra cotta tile at the Woodbury County Courthouse in 2016.
Courthouse terra cotta
Kenny Schmitz, Woodbury County Building Services Director, raises a lift to a loose piece of terra cotta at the Woodbury County Courthouse in 2016. Terra cotta tiles on the south side of the building's exterior were in immediate danger of falling down to the ground and there several additional areas where cement grout was missing on the decorative tiles.
Election Watch Party
People attend an election watch party at the Woodbury County Courthouse in November 2016.
Courthouse repair
Ceiling tiles at the Woodbury County Courthouse, shown in December 2016, were in need of repairs.
Courthouse architecture
The Woodbury County Courthouse features sculptural work by Alfonso Iannelli, an influential Italian-American modernist artist who briefly worked with Frank Lloyd Wright.
Courthouse architecture
Two buffalo head sculptures can be seen on the backside of the Woodbury County Courthouse, which opened in 1918. The building is an example of Prairie School architecture.
Woodbury County Courthouse
The Woodbury County Courthouse, which opened in March 1918 at 620 Douglas St., houses courtrooms and most county departments.
