GoFundMe Donors Raise over $370K for Teen Ordered to Pay Restitution After Killing Her Rapist

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Henderson's Highland Park funeral home

GoFundMe donors are raising money for an Iowa human trafficking victim who was ordered by a judge to pay $150,000 in restitution after pleading guilty to killing the man who raped her multiple times.

As of Thursday afternoon, approximately 9,300 people have donated over $370,000 to pay for Peiper Lewis’s restitution fine, which is more than double what she was ordered to pay.

Lewis, 17, was sentenced on Tuesday for stabbing Zachary Brooks, 37, out of rage after he sexually assaulted her. The judge additionally ordered to pay restitution to Brook’s family.

Lewis says she was raped by Brooks multiple times after she had been abducted and trafficked by an unidentified 28-year-old male, who forced her to have sex with other men, Breitbart News reported.

Prior to her abduction, Lewis had run away from an abusive home situation.

She was initially charged with first-degree homicide but later pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and willful injury.

Those who are convicted of homicide, no matter the degree of charge, are ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution in Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.

In addition to her restitution fine, the judge sentenced Lewis to five years of closely supervised probation.

Her prison sentence could have been 20 years due to her pleading guilty to both charges, but the judge deferred her sentence in favor of probation. However, if she violates her probation, she may have to serve her 20-year sentence.

Since Brooks was sleeping when he was killed, prosecutors argued against a deferred prison sentence, but the judge ultimately sided with Lewis’s legal team. Police and prosecutors have not disputed that Lewis was trafficked and sexually assaulted, the Associated Press noted.

Following Lewis’s sentencing, a GoFundMe page was organized by Leland Schipper, who was formerly her teacher, with the intention of paying for the restitution.

The fundraiser exceeded the $150,000 goal within 24 hours.

Schipper pledged that the additional funds raised would still go to Lewis to pay an additional $4,000 in restitution to the state, help pay for her college or help start her own business, and to give her the capacity to help find ways to help other victims of sex trafficking.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.

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