State regulators have revoked the license of a registered nurse who provided home health care for disabled children before being arrested on child-pornography charges.
In October, the Iowa Board of Nursing issued an emergency order suspending the license of registered nurse Kenneth Wayne Clark of Ankeny. The order was based on a disciplinary charge that Clark had engaged in unethical behavior and engaged in practices that are harmful or detrimental to the public by acting in a manner that is contradictory to professional decorum.
Court records show that on Aug. 1, 2025, Wayne’s home and vehicle were searched by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office alleges it found methamphetamine, psilocybin mushrooms, and marijuana, as well as multiple pieces of drug paraphernalia — including glass pipes, bongs and storage containers for marijuana and methamphetamine.
One month later, on Sept. 9, 2025, Ankeny police alleged that from March 1, 2025, to July 30, 2025, Clark knowingly and unlawfully downloaded or possessed on his cellphone videos that are “consistent with child sexual abuse material.”
Prosecutors have charged Clark with 10 counts of purchasing or possessing the depiction of a minor engaged in a sex act. Police records indicate there are more than “2,600 unclassified videos and 60,511 images” at issue in the case, including at least 50 videos “consistent with child sex abuse material” that were allegedly downloaded onto the phone.
The court then issued a no-contact order against Clark barring any contact with minors. The Board of Nursing alleged the no-contact order was particularly relevant to its emergency order in that Clark was “doing in-home care for disabled children” prior to his arrest.
A trial on the criminal charges is scheduled for March 23, 2026.
Board closed investigation after Clark denied allegations
Clark has been an Iowa-licensed registered nurse since 1997. The Board of Nursing alleges that at some unspecified time in the past, he worked as a licensed practical nurse for Lutheran Services of Iowa and as a registered nurse for UnityPoint at Home.
The board alleges that in February 2025, eight months prior to its emergency order, it received a complaint alleging Clark used methamphetamine, possessed child pornography, and “took illicit videos and photographs of people” without their knowledge.
Board records state that investigator Laci Olson spoke to Clark, who denied the allegations and, “accordingly, the complaint was closed in June 2025 due to insufficient evidence.”
Three months later, in September 2025, Olson came across a news article that reported Clark had been arrested and was facing 10 counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of possession of a controlled substance, and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia. The board then reopened its investigation, filed its emergency order, and scheduled a disciplinary hearing before an administrative law judge.
According to board records, Clark failed to appear for the hearing but later sought a continuance that would defer the proceedings until the criminal case was concluded.
The board denied that request and then amended the charges against him to one count of engaging in unethical conduct and one count of possession or use of a controlled substance. The charge of behavior that is contradictory to professional decorum was dismissed, with Administrative Law Judge Kristine Dreckman noting that “there is nothing in the record to show (Clark) behaved badly at work.”
In ruling that a license revocation was warranted, Dreckman concluded Clark’s actions “in this case are particularly egregious,” adding that she “cannot conceive of any explanation or mitigating circumstances that would warrant anything but the revocation of his licenses to practice the profession.”
