A former New Hampton man who was serving a life sentence in prison for Sexual Assault has died, according to the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier. Rick Brandes died of natural causes on Sunday at the age of 60. Brandes and Travis Alve met a woman at a New Hampton bar in May of 2005. Together they held the woman in Brandes’ apartment against her will. They threatened the woman with a knife and sexually assaulted her. Brandes argued diminished capacity at trial but was sentenced to life in prison. Alve pleaded guilty to four counts of Sexual Abuse as part of a plea deal and was given 55 years in prison.
