A GufundMe account was created for the victim shortly after she pleaded guilty to killing her rapist and, in less than a full day, raised way above $200,000.

As Blavity reported, Lewis was only 15 when she was forced into sex trafficking by a 28-year-old man who took her in. She met this man when she was unsettled and without a roof after running away in 2020. The man connected her to 37-year-old Zachary Brooks, who shortly became her repeated rapist and the man she stabbed and killed.

On Tuesday, her plea was guilty to voluntary manslaughter and willful injury, facing up to 20 years in prison; however, the outcome was far from that.  The judge handed her a lesser punishment, allowing her to serve five years of probation while performing community service and seeking counseling, as seen on WHO Des Moines.

Upon completing the terms of her probation, Lewis will not be required to serve another day in prison. While her conviction carried an automatic requirement by law to pay restitution of $150,000 to the Brooks family, her attorney argued forcefully against the decision considering it cruel and unusual punishment to force her to pay her attacker’s family. The judge stated that it was out of his hands, and he could not go above the law.

One of Lewis’ former educators, Leland Schipper, took the initiative to launch a GofundMe account after she was sentenced to ask for financial help to cover the fee.  In less than 24 hours, the account surpassed its goal of $150,000, and Schipper raised the fundraiser to $200,000 on Wednesday morning.  By 12:15, the goal was met.

“Pieper does not deserve to be finically burdened for the rest of her life because the state of Iowa wrote a law that fails to give judges any discretion as to how it is applied. This law doesn’t make sense in many cases, but in this case, it’s morally unjustifiable,” Schipper noted on the fundraiser page. “A child who was raped, under no circumstances, should owe the rapist’s family money.”

Schipper also said that the funds will be used to pay an additional $4000 restitution to the state, on top of the restitution to the family, and will “remove financial barriers” should Lewis have desires to enroll in college or start a business.  This will also give her the“financial capacity to explore ways to help other young victims of sex crimes.”

“As the Donations have increased, I am overjoyed with the prospect of removing this burden from Pieper,” Schipper noted.

As of Thursday morning, the total donations have reached over $330,000, with more than 8,600 individual donations made to the GoFundMe account.

If you have been following her case and want to see her statement, check it out below.