The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Department late Thursday afternoon said a scam in which a telephone caller identifies himself as being with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office has recently been reported. Sheriff Jeff Danker said two incidents have been reported where the caller identifies himself as Deputy Mark Adams with the Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office. The caller says the victim has a warrant and that if they do not call within a certain amount of time that Deputies would be sent to arrest them. The number that they appear to be calling from also correlates with actual Sheriff’s Office phone numbers.

Danker said suspects can sometimes create a fake caller ID to make the call appear legitimate. He added that authorities in Pott. County can officially confirm that “No employee with the name Deputy Mark Adams is employed with the Pottawattamie County Sherriff’s Office.” Danker said they have also received reports of several variations of fraud attempts, with some incidents having similarities.
A caller who claims to be with a business, utility company or law enforcement calls and claims that the victim is behind on a payment and will face some problems if they don’t pay immediately. The caller tells the victim to purchase a money card and call back with the card number.

In recent months officials have taken reports where callers claimed to be from MidAmerican Energy, the IRS and a law enforcement official that arrested the victim’s family member. As a reminder Law Enforcement will NEVER demand payment by phone and reputable companies generally don’t demand money card payments.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports a wanted Red Oak man was arrested at the Nodaway County, Missouri Jail on Thursday, June 26th at 10:50am.  30-year-old Matthew Lee Gusman of Red Oak was arrested on a valid Montgomery County Warrant for Willful Injury, causing serious injury, a class C felony.  Gusman is being held in Missouri on $20,000 cash bond.

The Harlan Police Department reports three separate incidents took place this past Tuesday. Authorities say officers were called to the 800 block of Market Street in reference to someone vandalizing a car belonging to Joe Scheffler. A dollar figure on the amount of damage was not given. Officers were also called to the Shelby County Fairgrounds in reference to a break-in where a wireless microphone and receiver was stolen. Both cases remain under investigation.

The Harlan PD is also investigating two other thefts that were reported last week. The first took place on Thursday, June 19th in the 2600 block of Southwest Avenue where several campers were broken into. The other occurred on June 21st at the Grace Baptist Church and the Congregation Church of Christ, both in Harlan. The cases remain under investigation.

32 year old Bruce Spray of Harlan was arrested on Tuesday after a domestic disturbance in the 800 block of Market Street. Spray was charged with domestic abuse assault for allegedly striking Kim Marti, also of Harlan and taken to the Shelby County Jail. 21 year old Michael Jacquard of Harlan was arrested following a traffic stop on Sunday. He was charged with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated and careless driving and transported to the Shelby County Jail.

The same day, 26 year old Jeremy Mannion of Logan was arrested when the Harlan PD was called to an unresponsive male in the 1000 block of 5th Street. Mannion was transported to Myrtue Medical Center by Medivac Ambulance. Once medically cleared, he was charged with public intoxication and taken to Jail. 40 year old Mark Anthony Kaufman of Harlan was arrested on Saturday, for allegedly assaulting Mayce Hill of Harlan. Kaufman was charged with domestic abuse assault following an investigation.

The Harlan Police Department says two subjects were arrested on Friday, the 20th when officers were called to Myrtue Medical Center for a juvenile female being seen in the emergency room for alcohol poisoning. 18 year old Brandon Wilke of Harlan was charged with possession of alcohol and transported to the Shelby County Jail while 17 year old Justin Dickinson of Harlan was cited for minor in possession of alcohol and released to his parents.