DES MOINES—Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird warns Iowans to be on high alert for government imposter scams. Her warning, Thursday, follows an instance last on Oct. 10th, where a scammer attempted to defraud a woman by calling from what appeared to be the Iowa Attorney General’s office’s phone number. Government imposter scams occur when a scammer pretends to be affiliated with a government agency to trick Iowans into sending money. Scammers often claim to be from agencies such as the Iowa Department of Revenue, Social Security Administration, or law enforcement.

“Scammers are master manipulators who will lie and scare people to get their way,” said Attorney General Bird. “I am warning Iowans to be on the lookout because these scammers will stop at nothing to steal from you, even if it means impersonating my office or law enforcement. If you or someone you know is suspicious of a call, please hang up and call my office at 888-777-4590.”

On Oct. 10th, the Iowa Attorney General’s office was alerted of a scammer who was spoofing the Iowa Attorney General office’s phone number to deceive people. A scammer, using an Iowa phone number, called a woman in Oregon and left a voicemail claiming to be a special agent with the Department of Justice. The concerned woman immediately forwarded a transcript of the voicemail to her husband. He returned the scammer’s call and asked for proof of identification or government affiliation. The scammer refused and instead insisted on calling back from a “main line” to prove they were a special agent. As the scammer called back from a different Iowa phone number, the husband found online that the number appearing on the caller ID was associated with the Iowa Attorney General’s office. The husband then confronted the scammer, but the scammer evaded questions and abruptly ended the call. The husband immediately reported the scam to the Iowa Attorney General’s office.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (file photo)

How to Spot a Government Imposter Scam:

• Unexpected Contact: Scammers call out of the blue and claim to be affiliated with a government agency.
• Threats: They use scare tactics, including threats of arrest, deportation, or fines.
• Demands for Immediate Payment: Scammers ask for money to solve a problem, such as paying taxes, fines, or fees. They also ask for the money to be sent via gift cards, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency—all methods where it is near impossible to retrieve the stolen money.
• Flawed Emails or Letters: They send fake letters or emails that look like they are from a legitimate agency but contain spelling errors or mismatched logos.

How to Protect Yourself:

• Verify the Source: If suspicious of someone claiming to be from a government agency, hang up or ignore the message. Use a verified phone number to directly call the agency.
• Use Official Channels: Always check the official website of the government agency for communication, guidelines, or instructions.
• Be Skeptical of Threats: Government agencies and law enforcement will not make threats of immediate arrest or ask for payment over the phone.
• Protect Your Pocketbook: Never provide personal or financial information over the phone, text, or email.

If you or someone you know has been targeted by a government imposter scam, contact the Iowa Attorney General’s office at 888-777-4590 or file a complaint online: https://www.iowaattorneygeneral.gov/for-consumers/file-a-consumer-complaint.

(Creston, Iowa) –  Police in Creston, Thursday night, arrested a woman on an OWI charge. Authorities report 31-year-old Paige Nicole Ruggle, of Creston, was arrested at around 11:20-p.m. at McKinley Lake. Ruggle was charged with Operating While Under the Influence – 1st Offense. She was taken to Union County Jail and later released after posting a $1,000 bond.

(Western Iowa) – Firefighters across western and southwest Iowa battled large field/grass fires Thursday afternoon. According to a social media post by Portsmouth Fire Chief Mike Leinen, crews fought a blaze that was three-miles long and about one-half mile wide. The cause of the fire is not known. Portsmouth firefighters received assistance from multiple area fire departments inside and adjacent to Shelby County. Their efforts were aided by at least two-dozen farmers who used their disc implements to cover over 400-acres in less than 30-minutes, in order to prevent the fire from spreading even more.

(Radio Iowa) – A filmmaker who was born in Italy and now calls Iowa home says shooting should wrap today (Friday) in Oskaloosa on the first round of filming on his latest movie. Max Leonida, the Film Artist-in-Residence at William Penn University, says after spending much of his life in his native country and then a decade in Los Angeles, he’s thrilled to be directing his latest work, “Winter Harvest,” in the Hawkeye State, what he calls a viable location for filmmakers.  “Working in such a beautiful community where everybody is so supportive,” Leonida says, “we realized that basically filming over here, even if there’s not a real tax incentive, and we can work on that in the future, we can go to the legislators and try to rebuild some kind of film commission and tax rebate so that we can attract other production here.”

A movie that costs two-million dollars to make in Iowa, he says, would’ve run 15- or 20-million in Hollywood. Some scenes were shot in Ottumwa, with others in Des Moines, including at the Iowa Capitol, though the majority of the three weeks of filming was in Oskaloosa. The 54-year-old Leonida tells Radio Iowa they’ll be taking a break for the next few weeks, then will resume filming in Italy for another month or so. Many local Iowans and William Penn students and staff are being used in the film, as actors, extras and as members of the crew.  “Some of them were so committed, so passionate and overachieving on the set that we decided to bring some of them with us in Italy. How about that?” Leonida says. “How many universities can claim that they’re making a feature film and bringing the students overseas, not for an internship, for a real job? I think it’s pretty cool.”

Leonida is passionate about how he and his wife became U-S citizens in Iowa in 2022. He says he intends to return to Oskaloosa with his team to begin editing and producing the film. “Students will be exposed to some high level professionals working on the editing, and usually post-production, the whole process takes two or three months, so let’s say January, February, March,” Leonida says, “so by April, we should be done with the first good final cut.”

Director Max Leonida (in black “FREEDOM” shirt) on the set in Oskaloosa (Photos by Reed Peterson, William Penn University)

The film is set in the early 1980s and follows the story of an American military general who’s kidnapped by an Italian terrorist group. Leonida has directed 28 previous films and says he got his start in the movies as a ten-year-old boy in Milan with a Super 8 camera. “That was not even a movie, actually. It was like, that was my crappy stuff that I was doing because I was in love with the job, of course, and I was willing to be a storyteller,” Leonida says, laughing. “So I involved all my friends, my sister, and I was doing some very poor and bad stuff, but that’s my beginning actually.”

Leonida plans to enter “Winter Harvest” in a variety of international film festivals, including Cannes (CAN), and intends to have the world premiere in Iowa in mid-2025.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports two people were arrested on separate charges, Thursday. At around 6:30-p.m., Deputies arrested 46-year-old Jill Renee Coddington, of Red Oak, for Domestic Assault. Her arrest took place at Cubby’s in Red Oak. Coddington was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

And, at around 9-p.m., Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested 25-year-old Cordell Ryan Straw, of Villisca. Straw was wanted on an active warrant for Forgery. He was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $5,000 bond.

PERRY, Iowa (KCRG) – Dallas County Attorney Jeannine Ritchie released a report Thursday saying no charges will be filed over a fatal school shooting in Perry. The Des Moines Register reports Ritchie said the shooter, who took his own life during the incident, planned and acted alone, and she won’t file criminal charges.

The shooting happened on Jan. 4, when 17-year-old Dylan Butler went to the school armed with a pump-action shotgun and a small-caliber handgun. Butler shot and killed 11-year-old Ahmir Joliff, a sixth grade student at the school, and wounded six others before taking his own life.

The school’s principal, Dan Marburger, was shot while trying to protect students during the attack. He died 10 days later. Investigators, in January, said the evidence indicated Butler worked alone. Ritchie’s report said the evidence doesn’t support charges being filed against anyone at the state level.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety said it is planning to hold a press conference in Des Moines at 10 a.m. Friday to share additional details in the investigation.

(updated) [Radio Iowa] – The latest U-S Drought monitor map is showing more color, which is not what the state needs to see, as that indicates more drought. D-N-R hydrologist Tim Hall says there’s just a small patch of clear area on the map near the Missouri border. “Ninety-eight percent of the state is now at least in abnormal dry, if not drought, conditions. And actually the big change this week is we just about doubled the amount of the states that validated in severe drought in northeastern and northwestern and western Iowa,” Hall says. Hall says the concern level is not very high at this point.

“So the fact that we had eight out of 12 months with above normal rain, going back to a year ago, certainly helps us to not be in a really scary spot we’ve had so far in the month of October, we’ve had seven percent of normal rainfall,” he says. That comes after a September that was the driest in the history of state weather records.  “If you put September and October together, we’re coming up on four inches short of rain just in those two months, which are generally pretty dry months to begin with,” Hall says. “So a really, really dry, sudden turn, but it’s not as significantly worrisome as it would have been, had we not had month over month over month rather going back to October of last year.” Hall says precipitation normally drops off each month as we head through fall and into winter, and it usually isn’t a big worry.

“The water demand is not significant this time of the year, so whatever rain we do get will tend to benefit us. We’re not in the middle of a growing season, and as the temperatures cool, we tend to see less evaporative demand on water,” he says. Hall says the concern will increase if we continue to see dry months into spring.

(Radio Iowa) – State tax revenues are projected to drop by more than 11-and-a-half percent over a 24-month period — a decline the governor’s budget chief says was expected due to recently-approved tax cuts. Kraig Paulsen, director of the Iowa Department of Management, says there is enough available revenue to fulfill the spending promises outlined in the current fiscal year’s budget.

“There is no issue with meeting the needs of Iowans,” Paulsen says. “The state continues to be in a very strong financial position in no small part because of the continued spending discipline.” Paulsen and the other two members of the State Revenue Estimating Conference met Thursday. They project tax collections will fall five-point-three percent between this past July 1st and June 30th of next year. In the following 12-month fiscal year, the group estimates state tax revenue will fall even more — by six-point-three percent.

“The tax cuts are having the intended effect,” Paulsen says. “They’re leaving more money in Iowans’ pockets and they’re leaving more money in the pockets of Iowa’s employers.” Jennifer Acton, director of the Fiscal Services Division of the Legislative Services Agency, is another revenue-estimator for the state. “Major tax reductions began in January, 2023 and continue to slow the accumulation of General Fund revenue,” she said, “as expected.”

Governor Reynolds says she and her fellow Republicans in the legislature believe the government has been taking in too much taxpayer money and they’ve fixed that by cutting taxes. Democrats in the legislature say these new estimates show the state will be taking in a billion dollars less in taxes in the next budgeting year. Democrats say that means more tax cuts for corporations and wealthy Iowans, while more money will be siphoned away from public schools to support the state program for private schools.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – The Council Bluffs Police Department is investigating an incident that took place early Thursday night. Authorities say that at approximately 7:14 pm, Council Bluffs Police and Fire Departments were dispatched to the area of East Pierce Street and South 1 st Street for a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, officers located a 14 year old male who
sustained a gunshot wound to one of his legs. The victim was transported by Council Bluffs Fire Department medics to a
local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The initial investigation revealed that two juvenile males were confronted by two male suspects at the intersection of East Pierce Street and Grace Street. During the confrontation, one of the male suspects produced a handgun and shot the victim once in the leg. The investigation is ongoing and no suspects have been taken into custody as of this report.

Council Bluffs Police are asking for the public’s assistance with identifying the suspects. Specifically, investigators would like to speak with anyone with surveillance video that may have captured the suspect’s movements before or after the incident. Investigators believe that the suspects were walking in the North and East downtown areas of Council Bluffs prior to the
shooting. Suspect #1, the suspected shooter, is described as a clean shaven white male, 16 to 20 years old, wearing a
black hooded sweatshirt, black pants and Jordan shoes. Suspect #2 is described as a white male, 16 to 20 years old, red
hair and red facial hair, wearing a Nike brand zip-up style jacket with white on top and gray on the bottom and cream
colored slide sandals.

Council Bluffs PD Shield

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call the Council Bluffs Police Department Criminal
Investigation Division at 712-328-4728. To remain anonymous, they may call CrimeStoppers at 712-328-7867 or submit
an on-line crime tip at: https://www.councilbluffs-ia.gov/FormCenter/Police-Department-2/Online-CrimeStoppers-Tip-70

DAVENPORT, Iowa – A Davenport man was sentenced today to 15 years in federal prison for possessing a distribution quantity of methamphetamine.

According to public court documents, Richard James Murphy, 42, sold an ounce of methamphetamine to a confidential source in August 2023. Four days later, law enforcement executed a state search warrant at Murphy’s Davenport residence and found approximately one-half pound of meth, which Murphy intended to distribute, and ten rounds of ammunition. Murphy is a felon and was on probation at the time he committed this offense.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Murphy 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 Bettendorf Police Department, Davenport Police Department, and the Scott County Sheriff’s Office.