Former Mason City firefighter pleads guilty to sexual abuse

MASON CITY — A former Mason City firefighter faces ten years in prison when he’s sentenced on sexual abuse charges in two months.

30-year-old Gendel Bimbo is accused of taking two people to the Hampton Inn and Suites in Mason City sometime between January 23rd and January 25th and having sex with one of them, who was age 15 at the time.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation investigated the incident since Bimbo was a city employee at the time of the alleged crime, with Bimbo resigning and being arrested on May 2nd on a charge of third-degree sexual abuse.

Bimbo during a plea change hearing this week pleaded guilty to third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony punishable by up to ten years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for January 21st.