(Des Moines, Iowa) – Officials with the Iowa DCI said Wednesday, that a former Pleasantville police officer charged with having sexual contact with a 15-year-old now faces more charges as part of the investigation. Authorities say 24-year-old  Alec Veatch,  was originally charged in Warren County with one count each of third-degree sexual abuse, lascivious acts with a minor and enticing a minor. Court documents show the former Pleasantville officer brought a 15-year-old to his Norwalk home and gave them alcohol. He then undressed the teen, touched them inappropriately and cut their thigh.

Criminal complaints show on the evening of Nov. 11, Veatch had a 15-year-old in his patrol car as a ride-along. Veatch concocted and fabricated a story to see the teen after his late shift, court documents note. He then contacted the teen’s mother under false pretense and told her he needed to pick up the teen to complete a witness statement during the ride-along. According to court documents, he then picked up the minor early the next morning and brought them to the police station in Pleasantville.

According to court documents, “While at the Police station, Veatch and the minor had inappropriate contact. The contact was sexual in nature. Veatch was observed on video from inside the Police Department kissing the minor and fondling the minor’s buttocks, over the minor’s clothing, in a sexual manner. Additionally, Veatch was seen on video placing the teen in a ‘sleeper hold’ causing the minor to momentarily pass out.”

The document said also, “Veatch was interviewed by the Iowa DCI and admitted that he was in a romantic relationship with the minor and had lied to the minor’s mother in order to see the minor again. Additionally during this interview Veatch admitted to touching the minor’s buttocks, for sexual purposes.”

DCI officials said he was taken to the Mahaska County Jail without incident Tuesday. The investigation continues.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – Iowa DCI Special Agent in Charge Adam DeCamp said Wednesday, at the request of Appanoose County Sheriff Gary Anderson and Centerville Police Chief Tom Demry, the Division of Criminal Investigation conducted an investigation into the November 21, 2021, officer-involved shooting in rural Appanoose County. All investigative findings will be forwarded to the Appanoose County Attorney’s Office and the Office of the Iowa Attorney General for review and determination.

Law enforcement officers involved in the shooting were identified as Centerville Police Officers Jacob Downs and Greffe Holmes, along with Appanoose County Sheriff’s Deputy Allen Buckallew. Officer Downs has been with the Centerville Police Department for 4 year. Officer Holmes has been with the Centerville Police Department for a month. Deputy Buckallew has been with the Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office for 2 years. He spent the previous 19 years with the Centerville Police Departments.

Deputy Buckalew

Officer Downs

Officer Holmes

Centerville police officers had been dispatched to a domestic assault in the 21000 block of 560th Street outside Centerville at about 3:43 Sunday (Nov. 21st). “While investigating the incident, two Centerville officers and an Appanoose County sheriff’s deputy were engaged in an officer-involved shooting that resulted in one person killed. The law enforcement officers were not injured,” DPS officials said through a news release.

According to authorities, 45-year-old Kevin Arbogast was shot and killed. What led to the officers firing is still unclear. The officers involved were placed on critical incident leave, as is standard practice.

(Radio Iowa) – Songs, prayers, and drumbeats were part of the 19th annual Memorial March to honor lost Native American children in Sioux City, Wednesday. Co-organizer Terry Medina says the march remembers the Native American children who have been removed from their homes since the 1880s and placed into foster care. “I was thinking this morning about the children who never came home. Thinking of their families. I am always trying to preach the word of forgiveness, then thinking about these families who lost a son, daughter, grandchildren. It’s hard to let it go,” Medina says.

He says the march is a time of healing for everyone. “That was our theme this year — Heal the People. In Indian country, it seems like we are always mourning. We are in mourning because of the loss of a relative, a child, heartbreaking,” Medina says.

Three riders on horseback accompanied the nearly 100 marchers as they left War Eagle’s grave at War Eagle Park to walk more than two miles to the downtown Sioux City Convention Center.

Tribal leader Manape Lamere’s father Frank Lamere organized the first march 19 years ago.

“When are we going to take responsibility for ourselves? And I think of my father a little bit to unify under a cause — but then it’s gonna translate between the marches,” he says. “And so, I really hope that we are able to do that. Our allies that have helped us with this over the last 19 years are waiting for use. We were waiting for them — now they are waiting for us.”

Tribal members and supporters shared a meal after the march.

(Radio Iowa) – A coalition of agencies and organizations is preparing to help as many as 13-hundred Afghans resettle in central Iowa by the middle of next year. Mak Suceska is head of the Iowa Bureau of Refugee Services, the state agency that’s providing technical assistance to organizations sponsoring Afghans evacuated from their home country this summer.  “The situation is ever changing and ever fluid with respect to numbers and when folks will be arriving. We currently have families and individuals that have been resettled today and will continue to arrive,” he says.

Iowa officials working on the resettlement process get a couple of weeks notice that a group of Afghans will be flying into the Des Moines Airport. “Refugees don’t just show up. They are resettled through resettlement organizations and through a process of travel and assurance before they are set to arrive in their respective community,” Suceska says. Kerri True-Funk is the director of the U.S. Committee for Refugee and Immigrants in Des Moines. She says the Afghans who were evacuated in August were fleeing persecution and violence, often because of their work with or support of the U.S. military over the past 20 years.

“One of the things that we have to remember about the people who have been evacuated from Afghanistan is that they may have never lived in a country that was not actively at war,” she says. “From the Soviet invasion in the 1970s up until now, there has been constant conflict and the government has moved back and forth and at different times has been authoritarian and democratically elected.”

The tens of thousands of Afghans flown to airports overseas underwent initial screenings there to determine if they were eligible for resettlement, then once they arrived at eight different military installations in the United States, there were more extensive medical checks. “The people that were evacuated and processed received two-year humanitarian parole. The clock on that started when they actually had their passport stamped and came into the U.S..” she says. “One year after they have been here they must apply for asylum in order to stay legally in the U.S. and continue to work and they are all authorized to work while here.”

Once the Afghans arrive in Iowa, they’ll get financial support and assistance from government agencies and private organizations for three months. “They’re coming to a country without Social Security numbers, without work authorizations. Many of them don’t speak English and so they need their kids registered for school, they need places to live, they need help accessing health care — and that’s really what those first 90 days are for,” True-Funk says. A federal program to help Afghans enter the U.S. workforce lasts for eight months.

Most of the Afghans who were flown out of their country in August were living in cities like Kabul, which has a population of more than four million and Kandahar, which is about the same size as Des Moines. True-Funk says there are no restriction on where the Afghan evacuees may live here and many are likely to choose to stay close to urban areas, but some may relocate to rural America.

“Afghanistan has a very strong agriculture and farming culture and Afghan people are very used to owning their own homes and having their own gardens,” True-Funk says, “and so we may see over time as they get more adjusted — working more, speaking more English — populations moving outside of the city centers.” A handful of Afghans had resettled in Cedar Rapids by the end of October. In mid-November, an agency leading the resettlement process in Cedar Rapids indicated about 115 more are likely to arrive by next fall.