AMES, Iowa – May 25, 2011 – The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking information from anyone who may have conducted business with the following individual or businesses and has similar complaints to those investigated by the department. 
 
James (Jim) F. Austin, 66, of Greene, Iowa, was arrested Friday, May 13, 2011, by officers with the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Office Motor Vehicle Enforcement and Butler County Sheriff’s Office. 
 
Austin, a former licensed Iowa automobile dealer, once operated the used car dealerships known as Austin Auto Center at 702 N. First St. in Greene and The ClassicConnection at the same address, and now operates JSA Classics in Greene.
 
This arrest stemmed from complaints received by the Iowa DOT’s Office of Motor Vehicle Enforcement regarding business practices and motor vehicle transactions conducted by JSA Classics.
 
Austin was charged with one count of Class D felony theft by deception, two counts of aggravated misdemeanor fraudulent practice, and one serious misdemeanor for false application for a motor vehicle title.
 
Members from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office and Iowa State Patrol’s Vehicle Theft Unit assisted in the Iowa DOT’s investigation leading up to the arrest. Austin was taken to the Butler County Jail and later released.  
 
Anyone with information concerning the business practices of any of these dealerships is encouraged to contact the Iowa DOT’s Office of Motor Vehicle Enforcement at 866-906-4636 or via e-mail at invmve@dot.iowa.gov.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Boy Scout council that serves eastern Nebraska, western Iowa and the corner of South Dakota has chosen a new top executive. The Mid-America Council says Eric Magendantz will become the council’s top professional on July 1. He will replace Lloyd Roitstein who is retiring after 40 years with the council.

Magendantz has led the Chester County Council in West Chester, Penn., since 2007. He has been with the Boy Scouts of America since 1993 and has also held jobs in Florida, Maine, Connecticut and Delaware.

The Mid-America Council serves 31,000 youth in 58 counties in the three states, and it is supported by nearly 8,000 volunteers.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office says two Elk Horn residents were arrested on drug charges Monday afternoon, following the execution of a search warrant at 2107 Washington Street, in Elk Horn.

22-year old’s Gregory Frazer and Lucas Spangler face aggravated or serious misdemeanor charges of Prohibited Acts, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and a felony charge of Manufacturing a Controlled Substance.

During a search of the men’s residence, authorities took into evidence material used to manufacture a controlled substance. Frazer and Spangler were brought to the Shelby County Jail and later released after posting $5,000 bond, each.

The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Board will hold a special meeting today at Noon to announce the hiring of a new Parks & Rec Director. The person named will succeed Travis Garrett, who announced in March his resignation, effective June 23rd.

Today’s meeting takes place at the City Hall in Atlantic.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A former Woodbine banker has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to making a false statement to influence the action of a bank’s loan committee. The U.S. Department of Justice says 59-year-old Kenneth Waite was sentenced May 20 in U.S. District Court in Council Bluffs. Waite was indicted on 50 financial counts in August 2010. He pleaded guilty to one of the charges in January.
He was accused of making a false loan application to his former employer, Commercial Federal Bank, to obtain a $2.3 million line of credit for a financially distressed customer. He funneled funds into the customer’s account by altering bank records to increase funds available to other customers and transferring funds from those loans into the customer’s account.