(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Pottawattamie County Engineer’s Office (Secondary Roads Dept.) reports 275th Street, about 1,550-feet north of Cottonwood Road (northwest of Treynor), will be closed from 7-a.m. Thursday (July 24) until 5-p.m. Friday (July 25), for the construction/installation of a crossroad pipe.

Please plan an alternate route of travel if you normally take the road in the area.

(Dows, Iowa) – A high-speed crash early Sunday morning in northern Iowa resulted in the death of 35-year-old man from Hampton. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2024 Subaru Forester driven by Ty Borcherding was traveling south at a high rate of speed on E. Railroad Street in Dows, at around 1:10-a.m., Sunday, when the vehicle left the road. The SUV vaulted into the air and struck a concrete grain elevator before coming to rest against the metal door of the elevator. The vehicle then burst into flames.

Borcherding died at the scene. The crash remains under investigation. The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Wright County Sheriff’s Office, Franklin General Ambulance, along with firefighters from Dows, Belmond and Clarion.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Sheriff’s officials in Mills County, today (Monday), released a report on arrests conducted between July 14th and the 19th.

Three people were arrested on separate charges last Saturday (7/19): 32-year-old Rebecca Joy Durr, of Glenwood, was arrested on an Out-of-County/State Warrant. Her bond was set at $10,000; 28-year-old Derek Ellis Warren, of Glenwood, was arrested for Domestic Assault/Bodily Injury-1st offense (Bond $1,000); and, 55-year-old Lorie Sue Padgett, of Emerson, was arrested Saturday for Domestic Assault/Bodily Injury-1st offense (Bond $1,000).

Two arrests took place Friday in Mills County: 19-year-old Cash Edward Croley, of Stillwell, OK, was arrested in Pacific Junction, for Burglary in the 1st Degree (Bond $10,000); and 30-year-old Mitchell Stephen Waller, of Malvern, was arrested in Council Bluffs, for Driving While License Denied/Revoked-OWI related (Bond $1,000).

On July 16th, 44-year-old Ashley Marie Hall, of Red Oak, was arrested in Glenwood, for Failure to Appear (Bond $5,000). She was also charged with Possession of contraband in a correctional facility (Bond $5,000.)

On July 14th, 41-year-old Dustin Lee Lingerfelt, of Council Bluffs, was arrested in Glenwood, for Violation of Probation. His bond was set at $2,000.

(Sioux City, Iowa) – An eight-count indictment in the Northern District of Iowa has been unsealed charging a Des Moines man with four counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and four counts of interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution through coercion and enticement. According to the indictment, Marlin Santana Thomas Sr., 49, used force, fraud and coercion to cause four adult women to engage in commercial sex acts in the Northern District of Iowa and elsewhere between 2009 and 2015. The indictment also alleges that Thomas transported women from Iowa to Illinois and North Dakota for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.

The charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion carries a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. It also carries a minimum of five years of supervised release up to a lifetime of supervised release along with a fine of up to $250,000. Finally, restitution is mandatory upon any conviction for sex trafficking. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence upon any conviction after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The FBI and Des Moines Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Nydle for the Northern District of Iowa and Trial Attorney Slava Kuperstein of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit are prosecuting the case. The FBI is asking that anyone with information about Thomas to contact the Omaha Field Office at (402) 493-8688.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org

Information on the Justice Department’s efforts to combat human trafficking can be found at www.justice.gov/humantrafficking.

(Greenfield, Iowa) – The Adair County Sheriff’s Office reports three recent arrests:

At around 3:40-a.m., Saturday (July 19), 36-year-old Katherine Lynn Coleman, of Corning, was arrested following a traffic stop in Fontanelle. Coleman was taken into custody for Theft in the 2nd Degree (Value greater than $1,500 but less than $10k), and Driving Under Suspension. Her bond was set at $5,000.

Last Wednesday night (July 16), Police in Stuart arrested 28-year-old Andrew Montgomery Irons, of Stuart, for Burglary in the 2nd Degree and Harassment in the 1st Degree. Irons was released the following day on a $10,000 bond.

And, on July 15th, the Iowa State Patrol arrested 31-year-old Luis Angel Diaz, of Iowa City, following a traffic stop on Interstate 80 near Adair. Diaz was taken into custody on a warrant out of Johnson County issued by Coralville Police, for Failure To Appear for arraignment on charges that include Driving While Barred, and Driving while license is denied or revoked. He was later released on a $3,000 bond.

ACSO charges for the week ending 7-19-25-min

(Glenwood, Iowa) – Officials with the Glenwood Police Department report four arrests took place over the past week. On Sunday (July 20), officers arrested 52-year-old Rebecca Stonerook, of Bellevue, NE, on a charge of OWI/1st offense. She posted a $1,000 bond, and was released.

On Saturday, Glenwood Police arrested 25-year-old Daniel Obnmacht, of Essex, for OWI/2nd offense. He posted a $2,000 bond, and was released. On Friday, 43-year-old Kirenia Calderin-Mendieta, of Omaha, was arrested in Glenwood for Interference with Official Acts. She posted a $300 bond before being released.

And, last Thursday, 37-year-old Melissa Dumler, of Glenwood, was arrested for Child Endangerment. She posted $5,000 bond, and was released from custody.

(Radio Iowa) – An Iowa State Patrol Trooper used an automatic external defibrillator or A-E-D to revive a rider on RAGBRAI — the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Rider Across Iowa. A spokesman for the Iowa State patrol told The Des Moines Register bystanders were administering C-P-R to a man from California who’d collapsed Sunday and a trooper guiding traffic at a nearby intersection was called to the scene. The trooper took the A-E-D from his patrol car, administered a shock with the A-E-D and the RAGBRAI rider’s heart started beating again.

The man was taken by ambulance to the Orange City hospital, then transferred by air ambulance to a hospital in Sioux City. This is the second time in three years a trooper has used the A-E-D in a patrol cruiser to revive a RAGBRAI rider.

DES MOINES, Iowa – A Des Moines man was sentenced on July 17, 2025, to 220 months in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

According to public court documents and evidence presented at sentencing, in the fall of 2024, Sean Michael O’Boyle, 34, was selling and receiving distribution-quantities of fentanyl. On September 30, 2024, law enforcement approached O’Boyle’s car, and he fled. O’Boyle hit a police vehicle, crashed into a tree, and then continued to run on foot. During the foot pursuit, O’Boyle threw a stolen, loaded firearm into a yard. In the car O’Boyle drove, police found a distribution quantity of fentanyl and another firearm.

At the sentencing hearing, O’Boyle was found responsible for 315 grams of fentanyl and found to have recklessly created a substantial risk of injury during his flight from law enforcement. After completing his term of imprisonment, O’Boyle will be required to serve a five-year term of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Fentanyl has become the leading cause of drug overdose deaths in the United States. Fentanyl deaths for youth ages 15 to 24 more than doubled between 2018 and 2022. Counterfeit, fentanyl-laced pills often resemble pharmaceutical pills, but contain potentially lethal doses of fentanyl. Visit the Drug Enforcement Administration’s website to learn more about One Pill Can Kill.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is proposing that the Pentagon provide quarterly reports to congress about sexual assaults and prevention efforts in all branches of the military. The requirement is included in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act that cleared a U.S. Senate committee this month.

“We have seen progress, especially in the Department of the Army,” Ernst said, “but we are going to continue and make sure we get the reports back so we can understand the legislation that I’ve worked on in previous NDAAs, to make sure that it continues to work and is doing what we want it to.”

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Red Oak, Iowa) speaking during a Senate hearing earlier this year. (Photo provided by Ernst Senate staff)

Ernst released an autobiography five years ago and wrote about being a survivor of sexual assault in college and domestic violence in her marriage. Ernst, who served in the Iowa National Guard for 23 years, has pressed the military to address cases of sexual assault within its ranks. “What we want to see is increased reporting, meaning that those that have been assaulted have confidence in their chain of command,” Ernst said, “knowing that there will be repercussions.”

The quarterly report Ernst proposes would require the military to provide congress with a tally of all reported sexual assault cases, how many were still being investigated and the outcomes of the rest. A Pentagon report released last year indicated that for the first time in 10 years, there had been a decline in reported cases of sexual assault among active duty soldiers. Still, 6.8% of active duty female soldiers and 1.3% of male soldiers said they’d been subjected to unwanted sexual contact between 2021 and 2023.

(Guthrie Center, Iowa) – A pickup that struck a dog Friday afternoon in Guthrie County, sustained $1,500 damage, but the driver of the vehicle was not injured. The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office reports a 2021 Ford Ranger pickup driven by 44-year-old Elisha (Elijah) Brogan, of Bradford, OH, was traveling south on Frontier Road at around 4:50-p.m., when a dog chasing a UTV ran onto the highway from a property in the 2600 block of Frontier Road.

The animal was struck by the left front side of the pickup, resulting in the dog’s death. The Sheriff’s Office said the dog belonged to the property owners in that location, and that the dog was chasing one of their workers that had driven the UTV onto the highway. The dog was valued at $500.