Former UI social worker who sexually abused patients faces up to 15 years

IOWA CITY — A former University of Iowa Health Care social worker and therapist who inappropriately touched patients and engaged in sex with at least one patient pleaded last week to charges and faces up to 15 years in prison.

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James Daniel Burkhalter, 46, of Iowa City, pleaded last Friday to three charges of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist. The other charges will be dismissed as part of the plea agreement. His trial was previously set to start Tuesday in Johnson County District Court.

According to the plea, Burkhalter admitted to engaging in sexual contact with one patient from March 1 to April 29, 2019; a second patient from July 2022 through January 2023; and a third patient from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2019.

Burkhalter faces up to five years on each charge — possibly up to 15 years in prison. There is no sentencing agreement — meaning defense can argue for probation and the prosecution can argue a prison term.

Investigation started in 2022

After complaints of Burkhalter’s inappropriate behavior, he was terminated from UIHC in 2022, according to UI officials.

Burkhalter then opened a private practice — Wise Mind Iowa — in Iowa City, where he continued to see former UIHC patients and new patients in 2022, according to a University of Iowa Police Department search warrant affidavit.

His license was “indefinitely suspended” by the Iowa Board of Behavioral Health Professionals on Feb. 13, 2023, board documents stated.

The University of Iowa Police Department began investigating allegations made against Burkhalter in May 2022, Lt. Travis Tyrrell said in a warrant affidavit. The earliest allegations were made in August 2021.

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Burkhalter was initially charged with multiple counts of sex exploitation by a counselor or therapist involving a patient on Sept. 7, 2023, according to a motion filed in January by Assistant Johnson County Attorney Oubonh White. While that case was pending, Burkhalter contacted a former UIHC patient and admitted his alleged inappropriate behavior with patients led to his license suspension and charges. In admitting that he did what he was accused of, he also said he was “lying to everyone.”

The investigation also led to another patient and more charges were filed in June 2024, and subsequently in March 2025, another former patient contacted university police to report similar incidents.

Oubonh, in the motion, also said Burkhalter’s “modus operandi” with each victim was identical. All of the patients were in behavioral therapy, ranging in age from 22 to late 40s. During sessions he sought details of their sexual behaviors and traumas, in an attempt to confront their fears and mental health issues. Those “sexually explicit conversations” led to sexual contact ranging from fondling to having sex.

One patient told police he was hyper focused on sexuality and he insisted she confront her issues from sexual trauma, sexual urges and preferences, according to court documents. She stopped going to Burkhalter because of the interactions and conversations with him. She ended up being hospitalized for mental health concerns directly related to these interactions, the document stated.

The acts of sex with patients happened in Burkhalter’s office during therapy sessions and outside the office at one victim’s residence, according to the court documents.

Sentencing for Burkhalter is set for April 16.

Trish Mehaffey covers state and federal courts for The Gazette

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com