CLARINDA – The Iowa Department of Corrections reports 32-year-old Joshua Michael Pierce was pronounced dead at 3:25 a.m. (Monday) this morning, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center after being found unresponsive in his cell at the Clarinda Correctional Facility.  The cause of death will be determined by the State of Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office.  An investigation is pending.

Pierce had been serving a 40-year maximum term for the crimes of Operating Vehicle No Consent, Dominion/Control of Firearm/Offensive Weapon by Felon, Going Armed with Intent and Habitual Offender (Property and Person) from Wapello County.  His sentence began on January 22, 2018.

(Radio Iowa) – As Iowa’s children prepare to head back to school, the state is experiencing a fourth wave of coronavirus infections and hospitalizations. Stanley Perlman, a professor of immunology and pediatrics at the University of Iowa, says even though the state has outlawed districts from requiring masks in school, parents should still have their kids wear masks to slow the spread.  “If my child was going, I would try to make them wear a mask,” Perlman says. “I would certainly make it so that the school had very tough policies and if children came in with any kind of respiratory symptoms, they’d be sent home.”

“Make sure your child wears a mask, make sure all the rules are followed as much as they can be rigorously,” he says. “Make sure that the rooms that are used at schools are as ventilated as possible, if there’s choices.” Perlman says it’s also important that children ages 12 to 17 get vaccinated before heading back to school — to both protect themselves and those around them.

According to the CDC, only around 30-percent of Iowa’s kids in this age range have been fully vaccinated.

(By Natalie Krebs, Iowa Public Radio)

DES MOINES, Iowa – Officials with the Iowa Dept. of Public Safety said today (Monday), that after a nearly two month long investigation into the disappearance and death of 58-year old Timothy Fechter, law enforcement has charged his brother, 43-year old Creston resident Dustin Seley with one count of Murder in the First Degree.  Seley was taken into custody at the Union County Jail, where he had been since June 29 on unrelated charges. Seley was transferred to the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, where was being held without bond on the murder charge. Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater said Monday, “It is believed that a prosecution for murder has not taken place in Adair County since 1951.”

Dustin Seley

Authorities say the charge against Mr. Seley follows an investigation by the Division of Criminal Investigation, the Creston Police Department, the Union County Sheriff’s Office, and the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, and an autopsy by the Office of the State Medical Examiner. The medical examiner ruled Mr. Fechter’s cause of death as blunt force trauma and gunshot wound. The manner of death has been ruled a homicide.

Fechter was reported missing to the Creston Police Department on June 20 with his body being discovered along a rural Adair County road on July 1st. Anyone with further information concerning the investigation is asked to contact Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater at 641-743-2148.

Seley had his intial appearance with the magistrate on Tuesday and bond has been set at 1 million dollars, cash only.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that 30-year-old Dylan Michael Joseph Hoffman of Council Bluffs was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th in District Court to 63 months in prison on a charge of Prohibited Person in Possession of a Firearm. He pleaded guilty to the offense in March 2021. His prison term will be followed by three years of supervised release.

The Council Bluffs Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigated the case.

A Council Bluffs man that worked as a foreign exhange student coordinator and host parent was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th in US District Court to 327 months in prison for Coercion and Enticement of minor foreign exchange students. 52-year-old Thomas Donald Boatright pleaded guilty to the offenses in February of 2021. His prison term will be followed by 10 years of supervised release and he was ordered to pay restitution to the minor victims.

Boatright led a program where students from other countries enrolled in a year of high school in the United States and were assigned a host family to live with while they attended high school. A report was made by a student in February 2020 after they discovered a hidden camera in the bathroom of Boatright’s home. A search warrant recovered numerous electronic devices that contained many videos of three minor foreign exchange students in the bathroom. A further investigation determined that Boatright used his cell phone and computer to communicate with foreign exchange students prior to their arrival and those conversations were sexual in nature. Boatright used his position as a foreign exchange student coordinator and host parent to coerce and entice foreign students to engage in sexual activity after they arrived in the United States.

The case was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department, Iowa DCI, FBI, and the US Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute provided training and equipment.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa reports that a Council Bluffs man was sentenced on Thursday, August 12th to 121 months in prison for Possession of Child Pornography. 31-year-old Cody Goodwin Taylor of Council Bluffs pleaded guilty to the charge in April 2021.

The case began with a cyber-tip that was received by Council Bluffs Police in July of 2020 that suspected Child Pornography had been uploaded to a Google Drive account. While investigating the tip, a report was received that Taylor’s cell phone contained child pornography as well. A search warrant was executed and a forensic analysis of the phone uncovered over 100 photos and videos of child pornography.

The Council Bluffs Police Department investigated the case and the US Secret Service National Computer Forensics Institute provided training and equipment.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office released details on an accident that took place on Sunday evening. At 5:51 p.m. Deputies responded to the accident at the intersection of Highways 25 and 141.

After investigation it was determined that a 2011 Toyota Tundra driven by 44-year-old Horacio Gomez Sanchez of Memphis, Tennessee was traveling northbound on Highway 25 when he ran a stop sign at the intersection with Highway 141. Gomez Sanchez then struck the rear driver’s side of a 2013 Ford F150 pickup driven by 57-year-old Steven Joseph Kepford of Moorhead, IA as he was traveling westbound. The F150 spun around and stopped on the north shoulder of Highway 141 facing East. The Tundra spun around to the northwest and became airborne, striking a light pole before coming to rest on its top north of 141 in the ditch.

Panora EMS transported two patients to the Guthrie County Hospital for possible injuries. A passenger in the Ford, Karen Kay Kepford suffered suspected minor injuries.

Both vehicles were a total loss and were towed from the scene. The Guthrie County REC light pole that was struck sustained an estimated $3,500 damage.

Horacio Gomez Sanchez was cited for No Valid Drivers License and Failure to Obey Stop Sign and Yield Right of Way.