U.S. charges Iowa youth coach who recorded players undressing

IOWA CITY, IOWA » A prominent Iowa basketball coach was jailed Tuesday on a child pornography charge after telling investigators he secretly recorded his adolescent players undressing in an attempt to monitor their development.

The FBI took Greg Stephen, until recently the co-director of the Iowa Barnstormers traveling team, into custody after a judge signed a warrant charging him with knowingly transporting child pornography. The charge carries a minimum sentence of 15 years, and up to 30, in prison.

Stephen, 42, wore a Barnstormers T-shirt and jeans during a brief initial appearance Tuesday afternoon at the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids, where he was handcuffed and shackled.

The Barnstormers cut ties with Stephen last month when investigators searched his home and cabin in northeastern Iowa and the allegations of secret recordings became public. The program, for boys between 5th and 12th grade, fields teams in Amateur Athletic Union events and is sponsored by Adidas. Several players who went on to play Division 1 college basketball have cycled through the organization since its 2005 founding.

A complaint unsealed Tuesday alleges Stephen’s former brother-in-law came across a USB recording device in a bathroom while doing remodeling work in Stephen’s home in Monticello last month.