IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A secretary at Iowa’s school for juvenile offenders has been fired after using her job to purchase pain pills from a former student who later demanded monthly payments to keep quiet about the transaction, records show. Kelly Reed lost her 19-year position at the State Training School for Boys in Eldora in March after reporting what she called a 9-month blackmail scheme to the institution and police, according to records related to her termination and request for unemployment benefits obtained by The Associated Press. The former student threatened that, if he was not paid, he would tell the school and news outlets of the purchase she made last year when she was desperate to relieve back pain, Reed alleges. In reporting the case, she said she could no longer tolerate the threats and wanted them to stop.

The Division of Criminal Investigation and the county attorney are now investigating the purchase of pills, which occurred off school grounds, and the alleged threats and payments that came afterward. So far no charges have been filed against Reed or the former student, who was not identified in the records. The State Training School is for boys ages 12 to 18 who have committed felonies involving violence or substance abuse and have been ruled delinquent. There, they can undergo a range of treatment and education programs designed to transition them back into society. The school has a history of controversy that includes assaults of employees by students and allegations that boys are placed in isolation rooms too frequently and mistreated in other ways.

At a recent hearing in her unemployment case, she testified that the former student had left the program about five years earlier and called the school in May 2018 seeking a copy of his transcript. Reed said she was suffering from pain that was unbearable at the time. She had a rapport with the ex-student and called him back to ask if he could help her obtain prescription drugs. Her doctor was planning to reduce her pain medications before she planned to enroll in a program at the Mayo Clinic in a couple months. “I was going to go to Mayo on July 9. I needed a little help to get there and asked (the former student) if he would help me out and he said yes,” Reed testified, according to audio obtained by the AP. She said she wasn’t thinking clearly because of the pain but that she knew her actions were wrong. The man got her some prescription pain medications and then “started blackmailing me once a month,” she said.

“He was going to go to my employer and the media and smear my name,” she said. Reed said after receiving a threatening text message in February of this year, she reported the alleged blackmail to leaders of the training school and was placed on paid administrative leave. She testified that she had been making the payments to protect the school, herself and her family but “I just couldn’t do it anymore, so I came forward.” Reed said that she turned over text messages and other information to the DCI.

Reed, 38, had worked at the school since 2000 and had no prior record of discipline. She testified that she did not expect to be terminated given the circumstances. She said that she completed a three-week pain rehabilitation program at Mayo and that her “life was much better” afterward, a fact confirmed in a letter from her therapist to state officials. The Department of Human Services, which operates the school, ended Reed’s employment on March 8 after an internal investigation, her termination letter shows. The department concluded that she had violated several policies, including those that bar unauthorized contact with former students and illegal conduct.

Administrative Law Judge Christine Louis denied Reed’s claim for unemployment benefits. Louis said she understands that Reed was in a “dire mental state at the time the situation occurred” but that her actions nonetheless amounted to serious misconduct. The school’s human resources supervisor, Ed Gilliand, testified at the hearing that the misconduct in Reed’s case “would kind of be off the charts” since it involved multiple violations. “It was truly an egregious act,” he said.

Montgomery County Emergency Management Director Brian Hamman reports “Unfortunately with the heavy rains that fell overnight, comes more damage to our already vulnerable secondary roadways. Crews are out assessing the damage and blocking off roads as needed. Water is starting to recede in some areas but more rain is expected through the weekend. Stay weather aware and don’t drive across flooded roadways if you encounter them.”

Photo’s by Montgomery County EMA

Hamman says current road closures include:

• A Ave between 260th x 270th
• Q Ave between 110th x 120th

Four people have been arrested in connection with a shooting incident early Thursday morning in Council Bluffs. Council Bluffs Police said today (Friday): 27-year old Tyler Raiti, of Council Bluffs, was charged with Attempted Murder, Felon in Possession of a Firearm; 29-year old Kevin White, of Council Bluffs, was charged with Attempted Murder and Burglary; 37-year old Samuel Pirowski, and 27-year old Tara Stoops, both of Council Bluffs, each face a charge of burglary.

Tara Stoops

Samuel Pirowski

Kevin White

Tyler Raiti

Council Bluffs Police Detectives, acting off tips from the public, arrested the suspects, who are believed to be responsible for the incident that happened a little after 4-a.m. Thursday, and resulted in 20-year old Carmen Hernandez being shot in the leg. The incident began when Hernandez and 19-year old Eric Martinez, who are residents of 2902 Avenue K, were awakened by the sound of someone starting one of the residents’ vehicles, which was parked in a detached garage.

They left the house to investigate, and saw three men near their garage. The three men took off running eastbound through an alley, with Hernandez in a foot pursuit. During the chase, one of the three suspects fired multiple rounds toward her from a handgun. Hernandez was struck once in the lower leg. Hernandez was taken by ambulance to Jennie Edmundson Hospital for treatment. Her injury is not life threatening. Officials say it appears the suspects were unable to steal the vehicle, because they could not open the garage door. Responding officers were initially unable to locate any of the suspects in the area.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Omaha’s sewage treatment plant is back online after severe flooding forced public works officials to shut it down and pump raw sewage into the Missouri River for a month. The Omaha World-Herald reports that the city’s Papillion Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant was knocked offline March 15, when statewide flooding forced evacuations and led to hundreds of millions of dollars in damages. The plant resumed full treatment last week.

Plant manager Dave Sykora says he thought it would take much longer to restore the plant. The flooding caused $35 million in damages at the plant and forced the Omaha Public Works Department to send raw sewage to the Missouri River for 33 days. The longest time the plant had previously released sewage into the river was for three days in 2017.

Sheriff’s officials in Union County report 49-year old Candace Rhenee Bisbee, of Creston, was arrested at 9:50-p.m. Thursday, for domestic abuse assault. Bisbee was arrested at her home in Creston, was was being held without bond for Union County in the Adams County Jail, until seen by a Judge.

The Walnut City Council learned during a special meeting Thursday evening, that the Welcome Center may close at the end of June. City Clerk Shannon Wood told KJAN News the building is used in-part as a public restroom for the downtown area. She said the Optimists, which own the building, are granted money from the City for their budget, but since they own the building, there’s not much the City can do about it being closed. It’s not clear what would be done with the building once it closes.

The Walnut City Council also discussed the Community Center as it pertains to Family, Incorporated. Wood said Family, Inc. is looking into leasing one of the rooms of the former school building-turned Community Center. The Council came back with some estimated of what needs to be done to make the room they’re interested in, habitable for Family, Inc. Councilman Justen Tooley came up with a cost of $7,500, and a price of $6 per square foot per year as a lease.

Councilperson Linda Booth – who is Co-Chair of the RAGBRAI Committee — reported to the full Council that the Committee has eight- or nine-vendors in-place for the pass through event, which is close to the number they were hoping to attract. In other business, the Walnut City Council decided to go with the Bank of Oklahoma for their General Obligation Bond. She said Bankers Trust was getting rid of that part of business plan, leaving the Council with the option of going through UMB Bank or the Bank of Oklahoma. The Bank of Oklahoma was the cheaper option of the two.

Shannon Wood said also, the Council talked about the popular Walnut Splash Pad during their meeting. She said the City is having iron issues with the new well, which is causing them to back flush more through their system. Therefore, the hours are being reduced for the Splash Pad. Instead of from 10-a.m. To 8-p.m., the hours will be Noon-to 8-p.m., beginning June 5^th.

DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa Department of Public Safety reports that on Thursday, May 23rd, the Iowa State Patrol and Division of Criminal Investigation charged 54-year old Gerry Greenland with one count of Attempted Murder. The charge follows an investigation into the action Greenland took towards Decatur County Sheriff Ben Boswell.

Gerry Greenland

A little after 3-p.m. Thursday, Decatur County Sheriff Ben Boswell, along with two deputies, was dispatched to 14163-128th Avenue in rural Grand River following a 911 call with a report of an altercation between family members. The initial responding deputy was confronted by Greenland, who was driving a John Deere 4250 tractor outfitted with a front-end bale spear. As the deputy drove up the driveway, Greenland drove the tractor towards the deputy’s vehicle. The deputy took evasive action and avoid contact with the tractor.

Greenland then drove the tractor towards the vehicle occupied by Sheriff Boswell that was stopped on the grass next to the driveway. The tractor struck Sheriff Boswell’s vehicle, forcing one of the bale spear tines through the driver’s door and pushing the Sheriff and his vehicle more than 100 feet. When the tractor and impaled vehicle came to a rest, deputies were able to get Greenland off the tractor and take him into custody without further incident. Sheriff Boswell was unharmed.

(Radio Iowa) — Triple-A predicts a three-and-a-half percent increase in travel volume this Memorial Day weekend, sparked — perhaps — by lower gas prices. Triple-A’s fuel price survey indicates the average price today (Friday) for regular unleaded gasoline is two-66 a gallon in Iowa. That’s 20 cents less than it was during the Memorial Day weekend last year. Gas prices in Iowa were about seven cents higher per gallon a month ago. Triple A projects that nearly 40 million Americans will travel 50 or more miles from home this weekend.

(KJAN/Radio Iowa) — National Weather Service forecasters say strong storms with heavy rain, hail and even a tornado are possible today in parts of Iowa. Parts of southwest Iowa’s Cass and Adams Counties got four inches of rain overnight. Several roads remain flooded. Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon. “That branch of the Nodaway River that runs from Massena down towards the central part of the county is still flooded,” Kennon says.

Crews have set up barricades on several secondary roads. “Don’t go through those barricades. They’re there for a reason,” Kennon says. “Don’t drive through standing water or running water going over a roadway. You’re just asking for trouble and I’m not a law enforcement officer, but I’ve got to believe somebody would try to cite for something if you do those silly things and end up in some trouble.”

The fine for failing to obey a “road closed” sign is 195 dollars when court costs are included — plus the cost of repairing water damage. In mid-April, a woman who ignored was injured after ignoring the “road closed” signs on Highway 34 was injured in Mills County. Her vehicle was launched 20 feet in the air when it hit several large chunks of concrete.

More State and area news from KJAN News Director Ric Hanson.

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