KELLOGG, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in central Iowa say a Jasper County man has died after being trapped in a grain bin. Des Moines television station KCCI reports that the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office and other first responders were alerted to a man trapped in the bin near Kellogg just after 8 a.m. Thursday.

First responders found 78-year-old Bill Hotger, of rural Kellogg, inside the bin. Once Hotger was freed, he was flown by helicopter to a Des Moines hospital, where he died. An autopsy has been ordered.

(Radio Iowa) — Iowa has one of the nation’s oldest populations by percentage and it means the state’s graying residents need to be especially cautious with their money, particularly in this digital age. Ron Long, director of elder client initiatives at Wells Fargo Advisors, says the term “elder financial abuse” covers a wide range of crimes.

Long says, “It’s all sorts of evil, predatory behavior that can run the gamut from forging checks, misusing a power of attorney, literally using scare tactics or exaggerated claims to get money out of older people.” A recent survey found 81-percent of older Americans say they’re confident they’d never fall victim to elder financial abuse, yet nearly half said they know of someone who’s already been swindled.

For Iowans who are worried about an elder parent getting duped, Long says there are a few avenues to pursue. “Set up a large transaction alert,” Long says. “You and your mom would decide how much it is, but anything over $500 or $750, you would at least get an alert that it’s happened. Most times, it’s perfectly fine, but you would at least know. We also look to have duplicate statements sent to a trusted person.”

Long says it’s not taking control of the older person’s finances, it’s just putting a second set of eyes to work, looking for anything questionable. He also suggests setting up auto bill payments for convenience, and to eliminate the worry from callers who claim they’re with a utility, you’re late paying and they threaten to shut off your power or water.

Prevention starts with a conversation, Long says, though it could be difficult to begin such a chat. “It’s not an easy one,” Long says. “We often say, start with yourself, ‘Mom, I’ve started to look at some of the things I need to put in place. I would like to start talking to you about some of the things I’m doing,’ and use that as an entre.”

Two-thirds of elder financial abuse crimes are committed by someone known to the victim, either a friend, relative or caretaker. About 15-percent of Iowans are 65 and older. Iowa ranks 4th in the nation for percentage of residents 65 and over, behind West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and number-one Florida.

Red Oak Police, Thursday afternoon, arrested 41-year old Jill Renee Coddington, of Red Oak. She was taken into custody in the 300 block of E. Washington Avenue, for Criminal Mischief in the 5th Degree. Authorities say Coddington broke a window on a vehicle that was not hers, with the intent to destroy the property.

She was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $300 bond.

MITCHELLVILLE, Iowa (AP) — The adoptive grandmother of a central Iowa teenager who starved to death faces new charges of trying to escape prison.

Television station KCCI reports that 64-year-old Carla Bousman was in court Thursday morning to face a charge of escape. The Iowa Department of Corrections says Bousman walked away from the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville in early May. Authorities nabbed her about half-a-mile away from the facility, where she’s serving a 20-year sentence for her role in 16-year-old Sabrina Ray’s 2017 death. If convicted of the escape charge, Bousman faces an additional five years in prison. Bousman has pleaded not guilty; her next court appearance is July 11.

Bousman was imprisoned last year after pleading guilty to neglect of a dependent person and six other charges in the teen’s death. Bousman admitted that she locked Sabrina’s two sisters in a room with the girl as she was dying. She also admitted concealing evidence after the girl died.

A man from Minnesota was hospitalized Wednesday night following a pursuit that ended in a crash. Authorities say at around 9:24-p.m., a Page County Deputy initiated a traffic stop on a silver Toyota Highlander at Highway 71 and Upland Avenue, about three-miles north of Clarinda.

During the traffic stop, the Deputy had obtained information from the driver and had returned to the patrol vehicle for paperwork. A records check indicated the license plates on the vehicle had been stolen. During the initial investigation, the SUV took off from the traffic stop.

The pursuit went north on Highway 71. At the intersection with Highway 34, the SUV turned east.  An Adams County Deputy joined the pursuit and the pursuit continued into Adams County on Highway 34. Near Corning, the vehicle turned around and headed west on Highway 34. At the intersection with Ginko Road, the vehicle turned south and headed towards Brooks. Near the town of Brooks, the suspect vehicle failed to negotiate curves in the road and wrecked.

The driver of the vehicle and only occupant, 39-year old Leroy Takye Bradley, of Minneapolis, MN, was detained for questioning and medical attention. He was transported to the Adams County Hospital by Corning Fire and Rescue. Bradley was then transferred to Bergen Mercy Hospital in Omaha, NE with undisclosed injuries.

Page County Charges on Bradley are pending at this time for speeding, Felony eluding, and Possession of Stolen property. Other charges on Bradley are possible as the case is still under investigation. The Page County Sheriff’s Office was assisted during the pursuit by the Adams County Sheriff’s Office & the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Corning Fire and Rescue and the Iowa State Patrol also assisted in the handling of the incident.

DURANT, Iowa (AP) — An unusual circumstance let a speeding drunk driver avoid a trip to jail after her recent arrest in the small eastern Iowa town of Durant: the sheriff isn’t honoring arrests made. Saying he cannot rely on the truthfulness of officers in the farming community of 1,800 people about 165 miles east of Des Moines, Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington has declared that his jail will not book any suspects whom they arrest for the foreseeable future. He has barred Durant officers from setting foot in the county law enforcement center and ordered his own deputies to not base any arrests on the observations of Durant officers.

Wethington’s directive, issued last month, has won him praise from residents, who see it as a rare public stand against police misconduct by a law enforcement official. But it has escalated his long-running feud with Dawn Smith, chairwoman of the Cedar County Board of Supervisors, whose husband Robert Smith is the Durant officer at the center of the sheriff’s allegations.
Wethington said the main problem is that Robert Smith, one of the town’s three full-time officers, has a history of being untruthful, using questionable force and generating complaints about his harsh demeanor. And Durant’s police chief, he says, is aware of the problems but hired Smith anyway last year even though some of them have to be disclosed to criminal defendants.

Robert Smith retired from the Iowa State Patrol last year after a 30-year career and then was hired by Durant, where his wife previously served as mayor and one of her supporters is the police chief. Dawn and Robert Smith said that he left the patrol in good standing. But court records show that the Cedar County prosecutor’s office routinely discloses to criminal defendants that Smith’s truthfulness as a witness may be called into question by issues that surfaced during his job as a trooper. Such disclosures are referred to as Giglio notices because they are required under a Supreme Court decision by that name and can be a career-ender for officers subjected to them.

Records detailing Robert Smith’s past issues are maintained in a sealed file at the courthouse that defense lawyers and judges have been allowed to review in-person. Robert Smith declined comment on the contents of the file but said, “My record stands by itself and that’s all I have to say.” Durant Police Chief Orville Randolph declined comment, citing the advice of the city attorney. Dawn Smith called the sheriff’s move an attempt to get back at her after the two elected officials have clashed on other issues. She said Wethington “chose to target me, my family, my friends and my community” after she looked into his admitted unprofessional behavior at a May 1 meeting of the county’s 911 board, which he chairs.

Wethington acknowledged that he used foul language and was “downright mean” to vendors of the county’s radio system because he was outraged their equipment isn’t working and he demanded answers. However, he says Dawn Smith has made an issue of the meeting only to try to discredit him after she caught wind of his plan. He said their feud “makes it easy” to speak out against Durant officers but that’s not why he’s doing it. Randolph, the Durant chief, said his department is continuing business as usual amid the situation. But it is having a real-world impact.

A 43-year-old woman was charged with operating while intoxicated last month after she was pulled over for speeding 24 miles per hour over the limit in Durant and had a blood alcohol level over the limit. A criminal complaint says she was released with a date to appear in court rather than jailed because the “Cedar County Sheriff refused to take defendant.” Calling the situation unfortunate, the chief judge of the judicial district has ordered that people who are arrested in the Cedar County part of Durant can be taken to the Scott County jail in Davenport. If that jail is full, they are to be taken to the Muscatine County jail. Durant, despite its small population, stretches into all three counties.

After they make court appearances, the suspects can then be ordered sent back to the Cedar County jail in Tipton pending further proceedings. Wethington says that he’s willing to accept the inmates at that point since their charges have been reviewed by the court — even though it means an 85-mile roundtrip for one of his deputies to pick them up. In addition to the transportation costs, the arrangement could mean additional hearings for the judges and clerks in Scott County. The sheriff said the response has been “overwhelmingly good” despite those costs, pointing to social media posts cheering him on. “I even got an ‘I Stand With Warren’ hashtag,” he said with a laugh.

DRAKESVILLE, Iowa (AP) — An August sentencing has been scheduled for a man accused of running over two children and fleeing the scene in southern Iowa. Davis County District Court records say 42-year-old Terry Petary, of Drakesville, pleaded guilty last week to four felony charges: vehicular homicide, causing serious injury by vehicle, failure to stop at the accident scene and possession of methamphetamine. His sentencing is set for Aug. 2.

The Iowa State Patrol says Petary’s pickup truck struck a boy and his brother a little before 10 p.m. June 24 last year as they walked on a rural road west of Drakesville. The patrol identified the dead boy as 9-year-old Merlin Beechy and his brother as 12-year-old Nathan Beechy, of rural Drakesville.