These articles, however, leave out some important details in this case. The UK publication, the Sun, claimed that the man received a 16-year sentence and noted that this sentence greatly exceeds the average rape conviction in the United States. The Western Journal website even claimed that the man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the hate crime of arson. In December 2019, several reports began circulating that a man in Iowa was given a 16-year prison sentence for burning an LGBT pride banner. An Iowa man was given a 16-year prison sentence for stealing and setting fire to an LGBT pride banner, but the facts of the case explain the harsh sentence.