The Union County Sheriff’s Office released more details on how a Creston man was apprehended on Thursday afternoon. 23-year-old Jameson Chase Cox of Creston was arrested after attempting to elude law enforcement. Cox was speeding away from officers in a 2001 Chrysler Sebring and attempted to make a turn at North Oak and West Townline Streets in Creston. Cox was traveling too fast to make the turn and lost control, running into a front brick pillar of a home at 303 West Townline Street.

Cox then attempted to flee on foot but was captured a short time later by a Union County Deputy. Nobody was injured as a result of the crash and damage to the brick on the home was estimated at $3,000. The vehicle sustained $2,500 disabling damage. Cox was arrested for Eluding and later charged by Creston PD for OWI 1st Offense.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A permanent memorial dedicated to fallen police officers will be built in Des Moines.

The Register reports the memorial will be dedicated to the 24 officers who’ve died in the line of duty, including officers Susan Farrell and Carlos Puente-Morales, who were killed in March 2016 when a drunken wrong-way driver crashed into their patrol car on Interstate 80.

On Monday, the City Council approved a $101,529 construction contract to build the structure outside the downtown police station.

The project will be funded in part by donations. The police department’s GoFundMe page has received $51,500 in donations for the project and Prairie Meadows Casino and Hotel has awarded it $10,000.

Fremont County Sheriff’s Office K9 Roby has received a bullet and stab protective vest thanks to a charitable donation from non-profit organization Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. The vest was embroidered with the sentiment “In memory of K9 Ty, California City Police Department”.

Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. is a 501c(3) charity located in East Taunton, MA whose mission is to provide bullet and stab protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States. The non-profit was established in 2009 to assist law enforcement agencies with this potentially lifesaving body armor for their four-legged K9 officers. Since its inception, Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. provided over 3,100 protective vests in 50 states, through private and corporate donations, at a value of $5.7 million dollars.

The program is open to dogs actively employed in the U.S. with law enforcement or related agencies who are certified and at least 20 months of age. New K9 graduates, as well as K9s with expired vests, are eligible to participate.

The donation to provide one protective vest for a law enforcement K9 is $950.00. Each vest has a value between $1,744 – $2,283, and a five-year warranty and an average weight of 4-5 lbs. There is an estimated 30,000 law enforcement K9s throughout the United States. For more information or to learn about volunteer opportunities, please call 508-824-6978. Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. provides information, lists events, and accepts tax-deductible donations of any denomination at www.vik9s.org or mailed to P.O. Box 9 East Taunton, MA 02718.

K9 Roby is a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, German Shepard mix, certified in patrol and narcotics detection.  K9 Roby has been with the department since December of 2016.  K9 Roby is assigned to Deputy Andrew Wake, who has been with the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office since 2010, and has been a K9 handler since 2014.

Danielle Rene Bammer

The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest of a Gravity woman after a traffic stop on Thursday evening. At approximately 9:21pm the Page County Sheriff’s Office initiated a traffic stop on a 2002 Mazda in the 1600 block of Highway 2 for a traffic violation. This is approximately 4 miles east of Shenandoah.

During the traffic stop, the driver, 27-year-old Danielle Rene Bammer of Gravity was arrested for Driving Under Suspension. Bammer was transported to the Page County Jail where she was booked in as she was unable to post the $566.25 bond.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa official who failed to report sexual misconduct by her powerful boss says she stayed quiet because she feared retaliation and didn’t want to share her experience as one of his victims.

Tara Lawrence, director of the Iowa Title Guaranty program, said she suffered “very uncomfortable” harassment by Iowa Finance Authority Director Dave Jamison. She told The Associated Press that Jamison showed her photographs of nude women, commented on her body and quizzed her about her sex life during meetings and work trips.

Lawrence criticized Gov. Kim Reynolds for commissioning a report that she says portrays her as an enabler of Jamison, one of the governor’s longtime friends and advisers, instead of a victim.

“My name has been run through the mud and I’ve been used as a pawn,” Lawrence said, tearing up as she became the first Jamison accuser to speak publicly.

She noted she is a Republican who supports Reynolds’ campaign and went to law school with Lt. Gov. Adam Gregg. “I support them. But I don’t support what’s being done to me. I’m not out to get the governor but I don’t think this is fair,” she said.

An investigation by a Des Moines law firm concluded that Lawrence and finance authority lobbyist Wes Peterson were aware of “egregious” wrongdoing by Jamison, including a December 2016 incident in which he grabbed a coworker’s breasts in front of them at a bar. The report concluded the two failed to report the assault and noted that Lawrence declined to speak with investigators, who found Jamison had harassed at least three other subordinates to different degrees.

Peterson was terminated Thursday, while Lawrence said she learned she will stay in her job without discipline. Peterson’s attorney, Patrick White, said the report contains unspecified “inaccuracies” that reflect poorly on his client and led to his termination.

Lawrence said nobody reported Jamison because his relationship with the governor made him seem untouchable politically and able to “get things done.”

“His behavior was so persistent and so pervasive,” she said. “There was a culture of accepting it.”

Jamison didn’t return messages seeking comment. He has generally denied harassment allegations.
Reynolds, who is seeking a four-year term in November against Democrat Fred Hubbell, has said the report backs her decision in March to fire Jamison once she received complaints. Democrats have accused her of empowering Jamison through their longtime friendship and failing to uncover his misconduct earlier.

Reynolds ordered the investigation amid questions about her handling of the case. She said Friday the investigation uncovered ambiguity in the procedures for reporting misconduct by agency directors, and that will be clarified.

Lawrence, 34, said she chose not to speak with investigator Mark Weinhardt because she wasn’t ready to describe her treatment by Jamison. She said she was stunned when her decision was portrayed as a lack of cooperation and evidence she was covering up wrongdoing.

“They’ve painted me as this monster,” she said. “I don’t have anything to hide. I am not protecting Dave Jamison.”

Through tears, the mother of two added: “I thought by not providing my personal experience, I could protect my family, my co-workers and my staff and not pile on IFA.”

Weinhardt said he told Lawrence when they met for a voluntary interview that she could share details of any harassment confidentially, but that he also wanted to ask her about Jamison’s behavior toward the two complainants. Weinhardt said Thursday that Lawrence declined to speak about any topic, saying she “anticipated litigation.”

Lawrence said she would consider legal action only if she were terminated, but she’s trying to avoid that. She said state officials assured her she will keep her job running Iowa Title Guaranty, which sells title insurance to property owners and lenders. The job paid $122,000 last year and she oversees 20 employees.

Lawrence said she attended meetings with state officials Wednesday and Friday where she answered questions and expressed frustration with the report. She said they are considering her request to reopen the investigation and revise the report, which she said “was defamatory toward me.”

Lawrence said she was “ashamed and embarrassed” that she drank too much on the night of the 2016 groping incident, but that she was harassed that evening as well. The report quotes a witness saying Lawrence could barely walk after she, Jamison and others were taking shots of liquor, and that Jamison had to walk Lawrence back to her hotel room.

Lawrence was hired by the program in 2012 and promoted by Jamison to interim director in 2015, then permanent director. Jamison’s behavior got progressively worse, she said.

Jamison, 60, showed her photos of topless women on his cellphone on multiple occasions while they were riding in a car, and she recalled trying to brush him off and change the subject. She said the most uncomfortable experiences came when he asked about her sexual preferences and history and commented on her body.

Employees told Weinhardt that Jamison made joking remarks about Lawrence’s sex life after she returned from her honeymoon.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Finance Authority has fired its lobbyist after an investigation alleged he failed to report sexual misconduct by its former director.

A lawyer representing Wes Peterson confirmed his client was terminated Thursday. Peterson had served as the authority’s director of government relations since 2011.

Attorney Patrick White says Peterson has been treated unfairly “and it was wrong for him to be terminated.”

The move came one week after the release of an investigation into misconduct by former authority director Dave Jamison.

The report portrayed Peterson as a “sidekick” who often joined Jamison at Des Moines bars. The report said Peterson witnessed Jamison grabbing a co-worker’s breasts at a bar in 2016 but didn’t report it. The report said Peterson yelled at the woman demanding to know whether she’d filed a complaint with Gov. Kim Reynolds after Jamison was fired in March.

White said that there were “inaccuracies” in the report, but declined to elaborate.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a former Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant who alleged he was discriminated against after speaking out about the drowning of a handcuffed Iowa man.

U.S. District Judge Willie Epps found Wednesday that Randy Henry went too far in talking to reporters, posting information on Facebook and talking to relatives of 20-year-old Brandon Ellingson about a “supposed cover-up” of the Arizona State University student’s drowning, The Jefferson City News-Tribune reports.

Henry had alleged that he was forced to retire early from the patrol after nearly three decades of service because he was a whistleblower. J.C. Pleban, Henry’s attorney, said they would appeal.

Ellingson, who was from suburban Des Moines, tumbled out of a patrol boat in 2014 while former trooper Anthony Piercy was transporting Ellingson for a breath test after his arrest on suspicion of boating while intoxicated. Once in the water, Ellingson slipped out of an improperly secured life vest. Piercy pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent operation of a vessel. His law enforcement license was revoked.

In the days after Ellingson’s death, Henry told investigators what Piercy had told him in a phone call the night of the drowning. Piercy’s account to investigators, however, was different, and so was his testimony during a coroner’s inquest. According to the lawsuit, when Henry relayed to investigators what Piercy had told him, Henry was told not to prepare a report.

“Henry believed that the (patrol) intended to cover up the facts and circumstances of the Ellingson drowning to protect itself from civil liability and Piercy from criminal liability,” the lawsuit reads. “After the inquest, he began speaking as a private citizen about this matter of public concern.”

Henry, who was a veteran Missouri Water Patrol officer when the agency was combined with the Highway Patrol in 2011, eventually testified twice in front of a legislative committee about concerns with the merger.

Henry said the merger had resulted in road troopers like Piercy being poorly cross-trained to serve as Water Patrol officers.

Epps found that testimony was protected but faulted him for implying that a special prosecutor assigned to review the drowning case wouldn’t implicate the patrol in any wrongdoing because the prosecutor’s son had been cleared of wrongdoing in an unrelated case. Epps ruled that Henry’s “allegations were largely unsupported by facts.”

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — A group of Iowa residents wants a state court to force a roadside zoo to get rid of its animals.

The residents filed a lawsuit Thursday in Delaware County against Pam and Tom Sellner, who own Cricket Hollow Animal Park just west of Manchester. It alleges several cases of animal neglect, including keeping animals in cramped, unsanitary cases without access to water and failing to obtain veterinary care.

In 2016 a court ruled the zoo had violated the Endangered Species Act, and a federal appeals court upheld the ruling this past April.

Pam Sellner told the Telegraph Herald she couldn’t address the new allegations but said, “There’s no reason for any of it.”

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — A Davenport woman who poured rubbing alcohol on her 2-year-old disabled child has been given a year of probation.

The Quad-City Times reports that 29-year-old Darshanda McNeal was sentenced earlier this month to 240 days in jail, but 210 days were suspended. She’d pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child endangerment.

Davenport police were sent to McNeal’s home Aug. 9 for a report of a person abusing and threatening to kill the child. Police say she was live streaming the incident on Facebook using her cellphone. Officers were able to intervene, and the child was taken to a local hospital as precaution. Police say the child did not suffer any physical injuries.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office reports that on Wednesday morning at 7:24am Henningsen Construction officials reported the theft of a trailer. Sometime overnight someone took a 2007 CM enclosed trailer that was parked at the corner of Creamery Road and REA Road. The trailer and its contents were valued at $17,500.