DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man being sought in a fatal Des Moines hit-and-run crash has been found. Des Moines police say 32-year-old Anthony McGilvrey was found Tuesday morning, hiding in a Newton residence. Police say McGilvrey was driving his wife’s sport utility vehicle on July 28 when the SUV hit a bicyclist, who later died. He’s been identified as Darrel Ford. Police say the SUV McGilvrey was driving was found abandoned and hidden in a rural area east of Mitchellville.

McGilvrey is charged with driving while barred and leaving the scene of a fatal accident.  His wife, Jennifer McGilvrey, is charged with permitting an unauthorized person to operate a motor vehicle.

A traffic stop in Montgomery County Tuesday evening, resulted in a pursuit with speeds reaching up to 145-miles per hour. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports Deputies attempted to stop a 2011 Suzuki motorcycle traveling west on Highway 34 a little after 6-p.m. Tuesday, when the driver – later identified as 49-year old Todd Dean Breeden, of Honey Creek – failed to pull over. The cycle sped-off and continued at a high rate of speed through parts of western Montgomery County and briefly into Mills County, before Breeden wrecked the machine and ran into a corn field.

The man was quickly apprehended and checked out by Red Oak Rescue. He suffered only minor injuries in the crash. Breeden was transported to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center, where he was charged with Felony Eluding, Possession of a Controlled Substance/Methamphetamine-2nd offense, OWI, and Interference with Official Acts. His cash bond was set at $5,000.

Cass County Democratic Party Chair Sherry Toelle reports Rob Sand, candidate for Iowa State Auditor, and Denise O’Brien, candidate for Iowa House District #21, will be appearing together at the Sweet Joy Shoppe in Atlantic on Wednesday, September 5th, beginning at 4:30 PM.

Rob Sand

Toelle says Sand, a former Assistant Attorney General for the State of Iowa, has spent the past decade fighting public corruption and prosecuting white collar crime. He uncovered and led the prosecution of the nationwide lottery-rigging scheme. He also investigated and prosecuted fraud that was related to Iowa’s film tax credit program. As State Auditor, Toelle says his priority is to protect taxpayers by stopping waste and fraud, actions which will benefit the state economy. He believes that the Auditor’s Office needs to add a law enforcement professional who is unafraid to investigate taxpayer-funded corruption.

Denise O’Brien

Denise O’Brien is a lifelong public servant. She currently runs an organic vegetable farm with her husband. Toelle says O’Brien wants to bring her experience within the rural community to the Iowa State House, believing that there is much more the State Legislature can do for the agricultural community as well as for education, health care, the environment, and water quality.

The public is invited to participate in the Sept. 5th event.

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:40 a.m. CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has designated three Iowa counties as natural disaster areas due to severe drought. The USDA says in a statement released Tuesday farmers in Lee, Monroe and Wapello counties who suffered losses due to drought may be eligible for Farm Service Agency emergency loans to meet various recovery needs including replacing equipment or livestock, reorganizing a farming operation or refinance certain debts. Farmers in 11 other Iowa counties also are eligible.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa is challenging city ordinances that prevent homeless people from asking for money in public places saying the local laws are unconstitutional. The ACLU of Iowa says it sent on Tuesday formal demand letters to Council Bluffs, Des Moines, and Grimes insisting that they repeal their bans on panhandling. It’s part of a larger effort with other organizations to notify cities in 12 states that such ordinances are unconstitutional.

WOODWARD, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa school district official accused of embezzling nearly $217,000 over the course of several years has been arrested on first-degree theft charges. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says 35-year-old Melissa Lee Lantz turned herself in Tuesday at the Dallas County Jail and later was released on bond. The arrest follows a state audit that found that Lantz had cut herself 101 unauthorized checks over a five-year period.

VINTON, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa couple who kept hundreds of animals in and outside their home have been given two years of probation for child endangerment. Benton County court records say 36-year-old Marshall Galkowski and 38-year-old Barbara Galkowski pleaded guilty. Among the probation terms are limits on how many animals they can have in their Vinton home: fish, one dog, two cats and up to an additional six small animals inside the residence in a properly maintained cage.

WOODWARD, Iowa (AP) — A former Iowa school district official was arrested Tuesday on theft charges for allegedly embezzling nearly $217,000 over the course of several years. 35-year old Melissa Lee Lantz, who resigned as the Woodward-Granger Community School District’s business manager shortly after being placed on administrative leave last August, was arrested on first-degree theft charges at the Dallas County Jail, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said in a statement. She later posted bond and was released.

The arrest follows a state audit that found more than $270,000 in improper and unsupported disbursements by the district over five years, including 101 checks that Lantz issued to herself on top of her authorized paychecks. Those additional checks, which weren’t approved by the school board, ranged from $315 to $6,500, according to the auditors, who forwarded their findings to the authorities.

District officials who were concerned about Lantz’s actions requested the audit.
Auditors said it was impossible to determine whether more payroll checks were improperly issued, because time sheets before June 15, 2013, were not available. It also wasn’t possible to determine whether all district collections were properly deposited, because sufficient records were not available, the report said.

In addition to the $217,000 in unauthorized checks, the audit found improper disbursements including nearly $12,000 in health and dental insurance premiums that were paid for people after they had stopped working for the district and $14 for excess mileage in a reimbursement check issued to Lantz.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports two people were arrested on drug charges Monday afternoon in the area of 221st Street and Highway 34. 24-year old Elizabeth Carrie Lynn Heinrich, of Council Bluffs was arrested for OWI/1st offense. Henirch, and a passenger in her vehicle, 25-year old Austin Charles Harmon, of Crescent, were also both charged with Possession of Controlled Substance, Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drugs, Unlawful Possession of Prescription Drugs, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and Interference with Official Acts. Heinrich’s bond was set at $4,600, while Harmon was being held on a $3,600 bond.

Monday evening, 33-year old Robyn Leigh Salmons, of Glenwood, was arrested at the Mills County Sheriff’s Office, on a warrant for Failure to Appear. Bond was set at $1,000. And, 25-year old Patrick Allen Eggerling, of Avoca, was arrested Monday night for Driving Under Suspension, with bond set at $300.