Iowa dating app scammer faces 5-year sentence ― with more time likely

A Des Moines man who has scammed women on dating apps for most of his adult life will receive a five-year sentence for violating his probation tied to convictions in two Iowa counties.

John F. Clarke, 55, signed documents admitting that he violated probation by leaving the state, getting fired from his job without telling his probation officer and missing appointments with the officer. The five-year prison sentence will be for violations in Polk and Linn counties.

Clarke faces a total of 15 years total behind bars for the same alleged probation violations in Black Hawk County in a case that has not yet been resolved.

Clarke also is scheduled for trial April 29 for felony theft after allegedly stealing 10 lotto scratch tickets from a Hy-Vee Fast & Fresh where he worked, court records show. And he’s being investigated by the FBI on a referral from the U.S. attorney’s office, court records show.

Clarke was featured in a Watchdog column on Valentine's Day after he'd been outed by many of his victims in Facebook chats and amassed a stack of complaints to Iowa’s attorney general and local law enforcement agencies in at least six Iowa counties and five states. He had never served much time behind bars despite numerous convictions, and was arrested in December at a Marshalltown bar after some of his victims leaned hard on law enforcement to take action.

Clarke, who is being held in the Polk County jail, could not be reached for comment.

Clarke's modus operandi was well documented in reams of court cases: Gain the trust of single women; pose as an employee of a cellphone company; gain access to their phones, service plans and credit; and use their resources to purchase electronics, including cellphones and Apple watches, that were later sold or pawned.

His long rap sheet included convictions in Johnson, Linn, Marshall, Polk and Story counties in Iowa and numerous counts of theft, identity theft, forgery and parole violations. Though he’s labeled a habitual offender under Iowa law, judges and prosecutors let him take plea deals allowing for probation or short stints in jail, only to have him commit more crimes, court records show.

Two women who lived hundreds of miles apart, near Columbia, Missouri, and Madison, Wisconsin, both told police prior to his arrest that Clarke also worked his dating app scam on them. He admitted traveling last fall outside Iowa, but denied he committed any new crimes in the stipulation he signed in Polk County.

Lee Rood's Reader's Watchdog column helps Iowans get answers and accountability from public officials, the justice system, businesses and nonprofits. Reach her at lrood@registermedia.com, at 515-284-8549, on Twitter at @leerood or on Facebook at Facebook.com/readerswatchdog.