(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports a man from eastern Iowa was arrested Friday morning at the Union County Law Enforcement Center (LEC), in Creston. 45-year-old Antonio Derone Ross, of Waterloo, was taken into custody on two Union County warrants for Failure to Appear, on original charges of: Possession of a controlled substance (PCS)/marijuana – 3rd offense; PCS/3rd offense – a Class D Felony; and Poss. of Drug Paraphernalia (Simple Misdemeanor). Ross was later released on a $2,000 bond.

At around 2:45-a.m. Saturday, 21-year-old Georgia Rain Alizabeth McKown, of Winterset, was arrested at the Union County LEC. She was charged with OWI/1st offense and later released on a $1,000 bond. Authorities said also, 36-year-old Douglas Edward Woodward, III, of Creston, was arrested Saturday morning, for Violation of a No Contract/Protective Order. He was later released on his Own Recognizance, after seeing the Magistrate.

And, staff with a car dealership in Creston reported Friday morning, that someone used a stolen identity to purchase two vehicles from the dealership. The loss was estimated at $85,400.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Veterans and active members of the military should mark their calendar and save some time over the noon hour on November 11th, for the Atlantic Rotary Club’s annual Military Appreciation Luncheon. The event takes place at the Cass County Community Center, from 11:45-a.m. Until 1-p.m., on Nov. 11th. Please RSVP by November 8th to Dolly Bergmann at 712-249-9275.

The featured speaker is Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Turner. Lieutenant Colonel Turner retired from active duty in 2021 with 2500+ hour of mishap free flight in multiple Marine Corps aircraft and 20 years of military service. His personal decorations include nine Air Medals, the Meritorious Service Award, five Commendation Medals, and the Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal. He lives with his family in Rhodes, Iowa, and is Subject Matter Expert and Event Controller for the Air National Guard in Des Moines.

Lt. Col. Nicholas Turner

(Radio Iowa) – State Auditor Rob Sand says it’s time to enforce a law that would hold state employees accountable for intentional misconduct. That means, in extreme cases, a state employee could be financial liable if the state offers a settlement to a victim. “The law right now in order to have people…held personally accountable for those damages would require evidence of willful and wanton misconduct,” Sand says. “…Willful and wanton is typically somebody doing something and doing it repeatedly and they know this is a terrible thing to do and they keep doing it, which is why it oftentimes comes up in the context of sexual harassment.”

Sand, as state auditor, is on the three-member state panel that approves the state’s legal settlements. In 2019, Sand argued the Iowa Finance Authority director who’d been fired should have been on the hook for the four million dollars the state paid two employees who said they’d been sexually harassed.

“This isn’t just something that you should care about as a taxpayer. This is something that I hope all Iowans would care about in terms of preventing sexual harassment,” Sand says. “There are people who are willing to do things like this because they think they are going to be insulted from the consequences of their action. We have to illustrate to them that that’s not the case.”

Sand made his comments during an appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa P-B-S. In the past year, the State of Iowa has paid to settle sexual harassment claims made by a judicial branch employee and a social worker in the Department of Human Services. Sand, a Democrat, is seeking reelection as state auditor. Todd Halbur, a central Iowa realtor, is the G-O-P nominee for state auditor.

(Radio Iowa) – The consumer protection division of the Iowa Attorney General’s office reports an upturn in the number of complaints about fake car dealerships appearing online. Ashley Kieler, a spokeswoman for the A-G’s office, says crooks are building sophisticated websites that mirror legitimate dealerships and they’re luring in customers with great deals — on vehicles they don’t own.

“They will create a website for car dealerships that actually exist somewhere and then use their own phone number and email addresses and start advertising vehicles,” Kieler says. “So when a consumer shows interest in this vehicle, they’re asked to wire a significant amount of money to this fictitious company, and then they are left without a car and without money.” Supply chain issues stemming from the economic slowdown of the pandemic are making it difficult to find new or used cars, forcing potential buyers to search outside their local areas.

“The vehicle market is tough right now. There’s not a lot of inventory on lots and used vehicles are also difficult to find because people aren’t purchasing new because they’re not available,” Kieler says. “So people are looking online if they have a certain vehicle in mind, and they believe that these are legitimate dealerships because they look like it or they have a name that sounds familiar.” One recent complaint came from a Texas man who lost 38-thousand dollars while trying to buy a Porsche from what appeared to be a legitimate dealership in Waterloo — that ended up being a carefully crafted scam.

“We’d suggest that you do your own research first,” she says. “Go to your web browser, search for the dealership that you believe you’re working with, see what other social media pages they have, other websites they have, or just the directory and then call those numbers and talk to somebody and make sure that this is the right dealership.” Before purchasing a vehicle, the A-G’s office recommends you always see the vehicle in person.

You can also check the Iowa D-O-T’s list of registered auto dealers here: https://iowadot.gov/mvd/buyingselling/dealers.pdf. That table is updated monthly and will tell you the legal name of the dealer, the dealer number, and the address. Check that information against the information given to you by the online dealer. If you think you’re dealing with a scammer, report it to the Iowa Attorney General’s office at 888-777-4590.