Feds seek 180 years for Iowa coach who exploited 400 boys

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors are seeking the equivalent of a life sentence for a former elite Iowa youth basketball coach who sexually abused and exploited 400 boys over a decade.

In a sentencing memorandum filed Thursday, prosecutors asked a judge to sentence former Iowa Barnstormers coach Greg Stephen to 180 years in prison. They said that sentence would reflect the harm he caused his “victims and the community” and “his level of dangerousness.”

Sentencing is scheduled for May 2.

Stephen pleaded guilty last year to sexually exploiting minors and possessing and transporting child pornography. He acknowledged secretly recording players while they were naked, posed as a girl on social media to trick boys into sending him sexually explicit images, and recorded himself fondling boys while they slept.

Stephen’s defense is asking for a 20-year sentence.