Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

No injuries were reported following a house fire in Griswold Wednesday evening.

Photo courtesy Mike Kennon, Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator

According to Cass County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Kennon, the fire at 201 Harrison Street was reported at around 5:35-p.m. Griswold Fire Chief Jim Wyman told KJAN News  the damage was primarily contained to the second story bedroom in the 100-year old home, owned by Ryan and Sarah Askeland, the owner’s of Dusty’s Place in Griswold. The family was not home when the fire started.

Wyman said the fire is believed to be related to an electrical problem, but he could not pin-down an exact cause. Damage to the home was said to be minimal.

(Update: Radford was acquitted of the charges during his trial in July of 2013. His case was summarily dismissed.)

Authorities in Mills County reports that two former Glenwood firefighters have been arrested on pandering, pimping and/or sexual abuse charges, in connection with an incident that reportedly occurred on September 9th, 2012 in rural Pacific Junction. According to a complaint filed by the Mills County Attorney’s Office, 23-year old Colton David Radford and 31-year old Brandt David Hopp allegedly solicited an intoxicated female friend to have sex for money with another person.

According to the complaint, after an agreement was made, a third person arrived and allegedly attempted to have sex with the victim. Due to her intoxication, the victim lost consciousness at which point Hopp then allegedly engaged in sexual acts with her. The victim regained consciousness, pushed Hopp away and left with the money paid to her by Hopp and Radford.

Hopp faces felony charges of Sex Abuse in the Third Degree, and Pandering. If convicted, he faces up to 15-years in prison and fines totaling $17,500.  He was being held in the Mills County jail on $15,000 bond. Radford is facing felony charges of Pandering and Pimping. If convicted, he could be held up to 10-years in jail and face fines of up to $15,000. His bond was set at $5,000.

Both men hare scheduled to appear in court for their preliminary hearings, on March 27th. The case against them was investigated by the Glenwood Police Department, Mills County Sheriff’s Office and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

The U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports a former Page County man was sentenced to four-years in prison for possessing child pornography. 49-year old John R. Clark, of Clarinda, will serve the 48 month term consecutively with a sentence Clark is currently serving in Florida, for Lewd and Lascivious Act on a Child. The 48 month sentence was imposed by United States District Judge John Jarvey, who also ordered Clark to serve a ten year term of supervised release following incarceration.

Clarinda Police Chief Keith Brothers reports numerous senior citizens in his community have recently reported receiving unsolicited telephone calls from individuals who are identifying themselves as being with the federal Medicare program and threatening to cut the senior citizen’s Medicare benefits off if the individual does not provide personal information such as birth dates, social security numbers, bank account numbers and other personal data.The Chief says the callers are being very persistent and in some instances have called the same senior citizen up to three times.  In some instances the caller has information to include the senior citizen’s bank account number, a check number and bank routing number.

The Clarinda Police Department would like to remind everyone to never provide sensitive personal information to unknown callers on telephone and to immediately hang up the telephone if a call of this nature is received. Brothers says the federal Medicare program does not ask for personal information over the telephone.He said also that his department often sees an increase in this type of fraud during the Medicare open enrollment period, but is continuing to see this type of fraud attempted even though the enrollment period has passed.