Shank charge added for enticement suspect

Nov. 18--NEWTON -- An Ankeny man accused of trying to lure children in three Iowa counties is now facing a weapon charge.

Jeff Lee Altmayer, 57, is accused of having a sharpened toothbrush in his cell at the Jasper County Jail in Newton where he is awaiting trial on charges in Grundy, Jasper and Monona counties.

According to court records, Altmayer sharpened a toothbrush handle, creating an instrument capable of inflicting injury. The toothbrush was found in a cup in his cell Tuesday, and other items around the toothbrush hid the alteration, record state.

He was charged with possession of a weapon in a correctional institution. The charge is a felony.

Altmayer is awaiting trial on enticement, sexual abuse and kidnapping charges for allegedly approaching children in Dike, Colfax and Onawa and offering them money to get into his vehicle in 2016.

In August 2016, he allegedly groped a girl who entered his vehicle in Colfax after telling her he would pay her $100 to do yard work at his home. The Grundy County incidents happened in June and August 2016 near Dike City Park and a mobile home park east of Dike. He was arrested in November 2016 after he allegedly attempted to lure a 6-year-old girl into this car and then claimed to be a police officer when neighbors intervened.

Altmayer also is considered a "person of interest" in an August 2016 incident where a man approached children at Clay Park in Cedar Falls, according to authorities.

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