A 23-year-old Davenport man has been sentenced to probation and ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life after an incident in 2021.

Ryan Joens pleaded guilty to a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, court records say. He appeared Thursday in Scott County Court along with his attorney and a victim, who read an impact statement.

Our Quad Cities News was in the courtroom.

“This has been an extremely stressful three years,” Joens said Thursday in Scott County Court. “I’m not denying her humanity. I’m not denying that she was a victim,” he said. “I’m not denying what I did.” He referred to “the loss of my military career,” and said “It’s been hard to come to terms with.”

“March 11, 2021, will forever be ingrained in my memory,” the victim read in a statement during the court proceedings. “He has taken years away from me,” the woman said in the victim-impact statement.

“I have spent hours, days, nights and months feeling unsafe in my own body because of his crimes against my body and mind. To feel as if your life and body has been stolen from you is no small crime and deserves retribution. I can only hope and trust that his punishment is a fair reflection of his actions and the pain he has caused,” she said.

“Today in hopes of both protecting others and seeking justice, I have told to the best of my ability my story,” she said. “I will never forget the immense amount of suffering, misery and chaos he inflicted upon my life. Some things may forever haunt me, but his actions have the power to define him and him alone. I am doing my best to move forward from this chapter of my life.

“His crimes are his burden to bear, not mine.”

Motto said he was disappointed because he perceives Joens lacks remorse. Still, “I’m not going to sentence you to prison today,” he said.

Joens was found guilty of the aggravated misdemeanor charge, and was sentenced to a term of incarceration not to exceed two years. But Judge Michael Motto suspended the two-year sentence, and ordered Joens to serve five years of probation. In addition, the judge also imposed a sentence of a term not to exceed 10 years for Joens to be “supervised as if on parole,” court documents say.

The incident in 2021

On March 13, 2021, Davenport Police began an investigation into a report of a sexual assault on March 11, 2021, court records show.

“It was determined that (Joens) knowingly and willing committed a sexual act to the victim while the victim was under the influence of a sleep aid medication. (Joens) admitted to committing a sexual act to the victim while asleep, through messages to the victim after the incident. (His) DNA from a sperm fraction was identified on clothing of the victim in DCI Lab testing,” police allege in arrest affidavits.

The judge also ordered a five-year no-contact order between Joens and the victim.