The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reports they have received multiple calls in our office today (Friday), with regard to people calling claiming to be the Social Security office. The caller wants information from you and says your benefits are in jeopardy! This is a SCAM – DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION!

FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man convicted of a 1987 drug-related slaying has died in prison. The Iowa Corrections Department says 71-year-old Charles Robinson died of an illness Wednesday at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. The Des Moines Register reports that Robinson was a drug dealer who fatally shot 50-year-old Joseph Coon in January 1987 and wounded another man. Prosecutors said Coon owed Robinson $260 for drugs and the two had argued over the money. He’d also served prison time for robbery, forgery and shoplifting convictions.

(Update 12:45-p.m.) Police in Des Moines today (Friday), arrested a Shelby County man wanted on suspicion of 1^st degree Murder in Pottawatamie County. 20-year old Nicholas Haner, of Harlan, was wanted in connection with the death in January, of 38-year old Adam Angeroth, whose body was found in Angeroth’s Council Bluffs apartment.

Haner

Des Moines police received a tip that Haner was in the area and they began to follow him and an unknown accomplice in the stolen car. They crashed the car just off Washington Avenue on East 14th. Police apprehended Haner in the area of East 14th Street and Osceola Avenue.

KCCI-TV in Des Moines reports multiple law enforcement officers worked together, blocking off various parts of East 14th Street. Police said Haner was easy to catch but the accomplice proved more of a challenge. He scrambled through neighborhoods, followed by dogs and heavily armed officers before he gave up and was captured at a home.

Council Bluffs Police Captain Todd Weddum says Haner will be held in the Polk County Jail, until arrangements are made for him to be brought back to Pottawattamie County; at this time, it is unknown when that will be. Two others were arrested in connection with the murder. 21-year old Liam Stec and an unidentified 16-year old male, both from Omaha, are in custody. Police said the teen’s case will begin in Juvenile Court, when and if there is a determination to hear his case as an adult in District Court, his identity will become public record.

The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that the state cannot deny two transgender women Medicaid coverage for sex reassignment surgery. In its ruling Friday, the state’s high court agreed with Judge Arthur Gamble’s ruling in June that a 1995 Iowa Department of Human Services policy denying Medicaid coverage for sex reassignment surgery violates the state’s 2007 Civil Rights Act, which added gender identity to the state’s list of protected classes.

Gamble also deemed state’s 1995 policy unconstitutional, but the high court did not address that finding. The ruling comes in the consolidated cases of Carol Ann Beal and EerieAnna Good, who sued in 2017 after their Medicaid provider and the Iowa Department of Human Services denied surgery requests recommended by doctors.

(Radio Iowa) — A 37-year-old man from Cherokee has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison on drug charges. State prison records show Raymond Andrew Kerns had seven felony convictions in Pottawattamie, Ida and Cherokee Counties in the past six years. In September, he pleaded guilty in federal court to possession and conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. Kerns was arrested in Storm Lake a year ago. Prosecutors say he was trying to meet with another meth dealer at the time. Kerns was responsible for selling about three pounds of meth in the Cherokee area, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa.

Sheriff’s officials in Pottawattamie County report 32-year old Jestin M. Hambright, who was being held in the Pott. County Jail on Theft charges, was presented with a warrant Thursday afternoon, for Violation of Probation. Hambright was returned to Corrections Staff for further processing. 29-year old Amanda Marie Sprinkel, who was being held in the Pott. County Jail, was presented with a warrant out of Douglas County, NE., for being a Fugitive from Justice. And, 23-year old Hayley Yvette Byerly was transported from the Dakota County, NE. Jail to the Pott. County Jail, to address a warrant for Violation of Probation.