(Iowa Capital Dispatch) – A Henry County family is suing the sheriff  for false arrest and malicious prosecution, alleging the county has waged a campaign of “wild west justice” against them.
Curtis and Lori Wagler are suing Sheriff Rich McNamee, Henry County Deputy Carlos Lopez, and the county in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. They allege Lopez’s conduct was “so clearly abusive and in violation of the law that he earned his way to being the sole member of the county’s Brady-Giglio list” – a reference to the list of law enforcement officers known by prosecutors to have been untruthful in the course of their police work.

The lawsuit, originally filed in state court before being transferred last week to federal court, says the Waglers own a family lumber business called Outdoor Tradition. On April 21, 2023, Lopez and seven other police officers are alleged to have arrived at the Wagler home to execute a search warrant allowing them to seize financial records related to Outdoor Tradition. The couple and their 20-year-old son, Owen, were arrested on 10 felony counts each, the lawsuit claims, and Curtis allegedly was subjected to two body-cavity searches.

The Waglers were released later that day and returned home to find “their belongings were all over the floor,” with closets “ripped out” and their house ransacked by police, the lawsuit claims. It also alleges that Lopez then “commenced a smear campaign against the Waglers” and contacted the couple’s customers claiming they were being scammed and defrauded. In early November 2023, the criminal case against the Waglers was dismissed by Henry County Attorney Darin Stater, the lawsuit states.

In December 2023, Stater placed Lopez on the county’s Brady-Giglio list, citing the April 21 incident. Since then, the lawsuit claims, the sheriff’s office has publicly claimed the Waglers are being “actively investigated” and has continued to imply they are engaged in criminal activity. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for unlawful arrest, illegal search, assault, battery and malicious prosecution.