A U.S. Justice Department official is warning on-line predators are engaging in a new form of extortion. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Duax: “And ‘Sextortion’ is essentially when the offender gets a compromising image or a compromising piece of information about the victim and then threatens the victim with the disclosure of that information if the victim doesn’t engage in sexually-explicit conduct or send him sexually-explicit images.”

In 2014, a 24-year-old Cedar Rapids man was sentenced to 42 years in prison for coercing a dozen girls between the ages of 12 and 15 into sending him photos via text or Facebook and other online sites. Duax says the man then threatened to post the sexually-explicit images he already had online or send the photos to the girls’ parents and friends if they didn’t continue to send him more pictures.

“As a parent you definitely need to know what your child is using on their device, who they’re communicating with on their device and to try to set forth some ground rules for your children when they’re using those machines,” Duax says. “And it’s not easy, sometimes, to have those discussions, but if you don’t, you run the right of being one of the parents of the kids I just talked to you about.”

Duax says U.S. law enforcement agencies investigated 54-thousand reports of online sexual predators in fiscal year 2015, leading to more than 85-hundred arrests. The Cedar Rapids man who was sentenced in that 2014 “sex-tortion” case kept on threatening one girl even after she sent him a text saying she was considering suicide.

(Radio Iowa)

Thunderstorm winds or possibly a tornado caused a Union Pacific Train to derail early this (Thursday) morning, in Crawford County. Emergency Management Coordinator Greg Miller told KJAN News some of the train’s container cars derailed between 2-and 2:25-a.m., about a mile and a half west of Westside. None of the cars were toppled over, though. The train was carrying some hazardous material, but as of the latest report, nothing was leaking, and no injuries were reported.

Miller said the train’s engineers swore a tornado caused the damage, as several of the containers inside the rail cars were sucked out of those cars. He said winds gusted up to 75-miles per hour for a short time. All the crossings are open in area towns, but power lines were down in several communities. Charter Oak, Dow City and Denison all reported scattered power outages. Winds just southwest of Denison at the airport, peaked at 87-mph at around 2:15-a.m.  A few minutes earlier, winds were gusting to near 60-mph in the same area.

The National Weather Service says Arcadia, in Carroll County, was hit with near 60-mph winds and quarter-sized hail at around 2:30-a.m. Miller said the town was hit pretty hard.  Elsewhere, a resident of Audubon County who lives about 7-to 8-miles east of Exira off 280^th Street, reports a solid wood corn crib that’s stood the test of time for over 50-years, was blown over sometime between 2:25-and 2:45-a.m. today.  And, a little southwest of Minden, in Dallas County, half-dollar size hail was reported at around 2:35-a.m.

Police in Red Oak, Wednesday night arrested a man on a Montgomery County warrant for 3rd Degree Harassment. 39-year old Richard Allen Straw, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 8:50-p.m. in the 200 block of W. Washington Avenue. Straw was brought to the Montgomery County Jail and held on a $1,000 cash bond.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office says deputies responding to a report of a person trying to break into a home late Tuesday night ended-up arresting a man on a trio of charges. Richard Alexander, of Corning, was taken into custody for Public Intoxication, Criminal Mischief, and Domestic Abuse.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office reports a fist fight in a field late Tuesday evening resulted in an arrest. Deputies were notified of the incident just before 8-p.m. Upon further investigation, Jose Huerta of Prescott was placed under arrest for Interference With Official Acts.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 1:40 a.m. CDT

Iowa artists who want to work on a grand scale are urged to apply for the opportunity to paint a large mural highlighting conservation and water quality efforts in Iowa. The mural will be created during the Iowa State Fair in August. Dustin Vande Hoef, a spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture, explains the goal of the project:

“We really want to showcase all of the aspects of Iowa agriculture,” Vande Hoef says. “Certainly, the livestock production, the beef and pork and dairy, the turkey production, the eggs as well, but also, the corn and soybeans as well as the specialty crops like grapes.”

The mural should serve as a visual representation of the commitment by Iowa farmers to protecting the land and improving water quality. It will be created on a six-panel, eight-by-24-foot wall in the Agricultural Building during the state fair.

Vande Hoef says, “We see it as an opportunity to highlight Iowa agriculture and the conservation and water quality efforts that are underway on our farms, in our rural small towns and in our cities.” At least a portion of the mural must be painted during the state fair, which runs August 11th through the 21st, including at least two hours each day between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Artists need to apply by July 1st. In addition to being seen by perhaps hundreds of thousands of fairgoers, there’s cash compensation, too.

“The ag groups have provided $1,500 to support the artist and an additional $500 to purchase supplies, so we want to encourage artists to apply,” Vande Hoef says. “We have all of the information on our website at IowaAgriculture.gov under ‘Hot Topics.'” Besides the state ag department, the project is being sponsored by: the Iowa Pork Producers Association, Iowa Turkey Federation, Iowa Egg Council, Iowa Beef Industry Council, Midwest Dairy Association, Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Soybean Association.

(Radio Iowa)

Forbes magazine is out with its list of the richest residents in each state and an agri-businessman from Adel is listed as Iowa’s richest person. Seventy-four-year-old Harry Stine is the founder of Stine Seed. He started experimenting with corn and soybean genetics in the 1960s and got patents on key soybean genetics in the 1990s. Forbes pegs Stine’s net worth at three-point-six billion dollars. The magazine’s website says Stine drives a Ford F-150 pick-up and lives in a small home near the Stine Seed headquarters.

Investment guru Warren Buffet is the richest person in Nebraska. South Dakota’s richest resident is a banker. The part-owner of Cargill is the richest person in Minnesota. Wisconsin’s richest person founded the Menard’s chain of home improvement stores. The richest person in Illinois is a hedge fund manager and Missouri’s richest person owns the St. Louis Rams, but recently struck a deal to move the team to Los Angeles.

(Radio Iowa)

A traffic stop Wednesday afternoon in Fremont County resulted in the arrest of two men on charges of Harboring a Runaway. At around 3:15-p.m., a deputy with the Fremont County K9 Unit stopped a black 1999 Honda Accord for a registration violation near the 15-mile marker of southbound Interstate 29 near the Percival exit.

During the investigation, it was determined that a 15-year old female located in the vehicle was listed as a missing juvenile out of Granite Falls, MN. Deputies arrested 20-year old Tyjuan Brown and 18-year old Caleb Smith, both of Tulsa, Oklahoma, for Harboring a Runaway, an aggravated misdemeanor. Smith was also charged with Possession of Marijuana 2nd Offense. Both men were being held at the Fremont County Jail on $2,000 bond.

Caleb Smith

Tyjuan Brown

The Fremont County K9 and the Iowa Department of Transportation assisted the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.