The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office reports six arrests over the past few weeks. Mostly recently, on April 28th, 31-year-old Paul Maxwell Ely, of Chicago IL was taken into custody by the Will County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois, on an active warrant out of Shelby County, and active warrants out of Pottawattamie County.   Ely was transferred to the Will County S/O after signing waiver of extradition to cross state lines.  Officials say Ely has an active warrant for two counts of burglary 3rd and is currently being held under a $5000 cash/surety bond.  He also has an active hold with no bond pending appearance in Pott County District Court, for theft 2nd and child endangerment charges.

On April 26th, 35-year-old Payton Thomas Watzke, of Audubon, was arrested on active warrant for Violation of Probation out of Shelby County.   Watzke was transported to the jail and held under bond pending court appearance and was released a few days later upon agreement between the courts, probation, and defendant. On the 25th, 30-year-old Cole Jacob Benton, of Hamlin, was arrested following a traffic stop in Shelby County along Highway 44 near Jacksonville.  Upon further investigation it was determined that Benton’s driving privileges are currently barred in the State of Iowa.  Benton was transported to the jail and charged with driving while barred and issued citations for speed and no insurance.  He was released a short time later after posting the surety bond.

On the 21st, 31-year-old Cody Emmett Lister of Omaha, NE was taken into custody for pending jail time, as ordered by 4th judicial drug court.   Lister, who was found to be in violation of rules regarding the program, will have an appearance with the courts coming up on May 5th, and currently being held in jail without bond. And, there were two arrests on April 18th in Shelby County: 28-year-old Jose Cruz Gutierrez Villanueva, from Denison, was taken into custody following a traffic stop along highway 37 in Shelby County. He was charged with driving while revoked.   Villanueva was transported to the jail without incident where he was held under bond; and, 46-year-old Michael Joseph Stessman, of Defiance, was arrested on an active warrant out of Shelby County following a traffic stop in Defiance. Stessman had been charged with Operating while Intoxicated from previous investigation pending test results.  He was transported to the Shelby County Jail and released under bond, a short time later.