MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Mason City man accused of sexually assaulting two of his caretaker clients has made a plea deal. Cerro Gordo County District Court records say 19-year-old Wasfie Alshara filed written pleas of not guilty Wednesday to two counts of misdemeanor assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. Prosecutors lowered the charges of felony sexual abuse in exchange for Alshara’s pleas.
His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 5.

The court records say Alshara raped one of his dependent adult clients on Nov. 21 and sexually assaulted the other in a group home on June 8. The records also say Alshara worked for an unidentified company that provides caretaking services.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday, that officials with the City of Lorimor reported earlier this week, that sometime after last Friday afternoon (Aug. 24th), someone broke into the city’s maintenance building. Damage to the door was estimated at $200. No items other than some receipts were reported missing as of last report.

(Radio Iowa) — A leader in the state’s Latino community says it’s time for leaders in Iowa’s white majority to defend Latinos being targeted by a “disturbing” robocall that cites the murder of Mollie Tibbetts and calls for the deportation of 58 million “brown” immigrants.  Joe Henry of Des Moines, a regional vice president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said “As long as we can get the people to support us, the overall community, we can stop the hate.” He was among a group that gathered outside the statehouse last (Thursday) night. “If we can stop this right now, if people will be speaking up, if good people will do the right thing — from local officials to people at their churches — then we can stop this hateful type of behavior,” Henry said, “but we have to do it now before it gets any bigger.”

Henry says Latinos in Iowa are growing more fearful after a white supremacist group based in Idaho began sending disturbing recorded telephone messages to Iowans this week. Here’s how the call ends:

The message begins by referring to the man accused of murdering Mollie Tibbetts as a “savage intruder” and criticizes members of Tibbetts’ family for saying they do not blame a race of people for her murder. Authorities in Des Moines blocked off a city street after the words “Deport Illegals” were spray painted across both lanes of the road yesterday (Thursday). The graffiti was painted in a neighborhood where many Latinos live. It was wiped away within two hours after it was reported and the City of Des Moines posted this message on its Twitter account: “not in our city.”

MARENGO, Iowa (AP) — A woman has been found guilty of killing a truck driver at an Iowa rest stop along Interstate 80. Iowa County District Court documents say 44-year-old Mariana Lesnic was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder. Authorities say she shot 60-year-old Ernest Kummer four times in the head inside his truck cab on Sept. 6, 2017, at the westbound rest stop near Victor, about 40 miles west of Iowa City. Kummer, who lived in Monroe, was an employee of Fridley, Minnesota-based Copeland Trucking, where he had worked since 2010.

A first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A traffic stop at around 12:45-a.m. today (Friday), in Red Oak, resulted in the driver of a vehicle being taken into custody on an OWI charge. 30-year old Brittney Michell Louden, of Red Oak, was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $1,000 cash bond.