EXCLUSIVE Grant Hill, rising GOP star running for Congress spent three years in jail for child sex offences

Daily Mail​

09-05-2025

A Republican challenging a sitting GOP Congresswoman spent almost three years in prison for sex offenses, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Grant Hill, 28, was convicted of indecently exposing himself to a minor and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse in December 2022 according to Iowa 's sex offender registry.
On April 22, he filed documents officially declaring he is running as a GOP candidate for Iowa's first congressional district, currently held by Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks.
The seat, one of the closest in the country, covers Iowa City, Indianola, Burlington and Davenport. The 69-year-old incumbent is seeking re-election.
Hill pleaded guilty to one charge of indecent exposure to a minor involving 'masturbation', after he exposed himself to a 13-year-old boy while working out at a gym in an apartment complex on the outskirts of Iowa City in 2021.
According to police, he was general manager at an Iowa City cookie shop in 2022 when he called a new male staffer into the basement, asked him to watch a video on his laptop, then grabbed the man's penis.
He was caught on CCTV grabbing the man's crotch a second time in the shop's kitchen, after pointing at the staffer's groin and saying 'pee-pee' in a 'toddler-type voice', police said.
Hill was also accused of recording himself in his car masturbating while stopped at a red light in Coralville.
He spent two years and nine months in prison and must remain on the sex offenders' registry for a decade after his February 20 release.
Hill is classed as a 'Tier II' offender, meaning he has to report to the local sheriff's department with his residential address twice a year.
He filed a 'Statement of Candidacy' with the Federal Election Commission on April 22, giving a name and address in Keota matching those on the Iowa sex offender's registry.
The documents said he is running as a Republican, and his campaign committee is called 'The People's Hill'.
He faces Miller-Meeks and previous Iowa District 1 contender David Pautsch in the 2026 primary.
Pautsch received 43.9 percent of the vote to Miller-Meeks's 55.9 percent in the district's Republican primary on June 4, 2024.
Hill appears to have previously attempted a run for Iowa's senate seat, as the bio for his neglected X social media account still says, 'Running for Iowa Senate 2022!'
On the page, he described himself as a 'Future United States Senator. Student. Independent. Proud Trump Supporter. Inspired by @realDonaldTrump'.
In his X bio, Hill described himself as a 'Future United States Senator. Student. Independent. Proud Trump Supporter. Inspired by @realDonaldTrump'
Among his 2017 posts he uploaded a photo posing next to senior Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley in his hometown of Keota.
His page is followed by nine accounts, including Democrat Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and 2024 Republican Pennsylvania congressional candidate Joshua Hall, who spent 20 months in prison for leaving threatening voicemails to California Democrat Rep. Eric Swalwell and his family.
After Hill's release from prison, he founded a Christian company '1 Love Legacy', which describes itself as 'bringing balance to the world through love, faith, and understanding' and 'showing that God's love embraces everyone — regardless of their past or identity.'
Co-founder Nic Wilson described himself on the company's website as a recovering addict who had 'a decade of treatment centers, jail cells, homelessness, and numerous suicide attempts'.
Wilson said he went sober in 2021 after being offered a treatment program instead of prosecution for '10 felony charges and a potential 117-year prison sentence'.
But despite his website biography saying 'Today, I'm sober, filled with hope, and ready to share the message that saved my life through 1 Love Legacy,' Wilson is currently languishing in a Polk County jail on charges of parole violation and domestic abuse assault by 'impeding air/blood flow causing bodily injury'.
His bail is set at $100,000.
His February 2025 mugshot shows him looking disheveled, with a bloodshot stare and a black eye.
Wilson has previous convictions between 2016 and 2022 for felony burglary, domestic violence assault, a DUI, violating a restraining order, child endangerment and keeping a vicious dog.
Hill's biography on the site says he was 'born in Russia and adopted into an American family at the age of three.'
He alluded to his sex offenses, writing: 'In 2022, my life took an unexpected turn when I went to prison', and added: 'Coming from a small town, I never felt safe exploring who I was in a healthy way, which led me down destructive and ultimately illegal paths.'
Hill told DailyMail.com: 'While my path has taken some difficult and humbling turns, it has always been my intention to serve – and I believe that real, lasting change only happens when people who've experienced deep hardship are willing to step forward and fight for something better.
Referring to 1 Love Legacy, he added: 'Our nonprofit exists to help people like me – people who've made terrible mistakes, who carry heavy pasts, but who are still capable of change.'