SW Iowa Times

A 71-year-old Council Bluffs native was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison on one count of supplying of a controlled substance to a minor and six counts of human trafficking.

Hershel James Ratliff was sentenced after initially being found guilty by a jury July 23, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

Ratliff, the former owner Jimmy's All American Malt Shop and Grill, bartered drugs and alcohol to underage girls in exchange for sex, according to KETV 7 Omaha.

Ratliff gave young girls who came to his house money, alcohol, prescription Xanax and marijuana for sexual acts for roughly 10 years, the news station reported.

Ratliff’s 30-year sentence will be followed by a supervised release period of 10 years, KETV 7 Omaha reported.

An investigation was initiated in August 2019 when a 14-year-old girl notified law enforcement officials of Ratliff requesting sexual favors in exchange for sex, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

The investigation was handled by the Council Bluffs Police Department, the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force and the FBI, with the case arraigned by the Southern District of Iowa branch of the United States Attorney’s Office.

“The National Human Trafficking Hotline received 218 calls from Iowa alone in 2017 and 74 Iowa-based human trafficking cases,” the trafficking prevention site Chains Interrupted reported. “Of the cases reported to the Human Trafficking Hotline for Iowa, half are reports from minors.”

One study discovered “1,350 unique individuals advertised for sale for sex online every month in Iowa.”