The Clarinda Police Department reports an arrest has been made following an investigation of the theft of alcoholic liquors from the Clarinda Fareway Grocery Store. The investigation began on August 9th and an arrest was made on Tuesday, August 20^th.

Arrested was 59-year-old Cristobal Mercado Serna of Clarinda on one count of felony theft. Serna was arrested without incident at his residence in Clarinda. Serna is currently being held in the Page County Jail on $2,000 bail.

Reports concerning the incident have been submitted to the office of Page County Attorney Carl M. Sonksen for review regarding the filing of formal charges.

w/ Chris Parks

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The Creston Police Department reports one arrest and an incident of vandalism on Tuesday. At 2:29pm Officers arrested 22-year-old Brandon Tull of Creston on a Union County Warrant for Violation of No Contact/Protective Order-Contempt. He was booked in to the Union County Jail on $300 bond.

Also at 8:00am on Tuesday a resident at 604 North Birch Street in Creston reported that sometime during the night someone had vandalized her home with eggs. The damage was estimated at $30.

The Red Oak Police Department reports the arrest on Tuesday of 21-year-old Tyler Austin Sowers of Clinton on a warrant for Violation of Probation. He was taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $10,000 bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A man has been convicted of second-degree murder for the shooting death of a Des Moines resident.

Polk County District Court records say a jury found 47-year-old William Burton III guilty last week. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 2.

Authorities say Burton shot 39-year-old Cory Channon on Jan. 9 last year at Channon’s home. Burton and Crystal Purdy had gone there to confront Channon about a gun Burton thought Channon had stolen from him.

Purdy pleaded guilty last September to burglary and conspiracy and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

LEON, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say that for the second time in four days, an Iowa cemetery has been the target of vandalism.

The Des Moines Register reports that the last case happened at a cemetery in Leon, a town of fewer than 2,000 people about 70 miles (112.65 kilometers) south of Des Moines.

A post on the city’s Facebook page Monday showed gravestones toppled and damaged in Leon Cemetery, as well as damage to structures and statues at an adjacent veterans’ memorial.

Last week, police in the eastern Iowa city of Manchester reported that nearly 30 gravestones were damaged in the city’s Oakland Cemetery.

Police in both cities are asking the public to report any information on the vandalism.

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest Tuesday of a Lenox man. At 1:00pm Deputies arrested 48-year-old Tyler D. Lillie on a warrant charging him with Violation of Probation. Lillie was located by Taylor County authorities on a traffic stop and was transported to Montgomery County without incident. He was held on $5,000 bond.

The Harlan Police Department reports three recent arrests. On August 14th Officers arrested 31-year-old Adreana Augustina Bernal of Harlan for Domestic Abuse Assault. Bernal was taken to the Shelby County Jail.

Also arrested on August 14th was 44-year-old Jason Michael Lassen of Harlan following a call for a disturbance. Lassen was charged with Public Intoxication and booked into the Shelby County Jail. Lassen was released and then arrested again the next day for Public Intoxication and alcoholic beverages in city parks.

Congressman Steve King has announced that he will be hosting a town hall meeting in Audubon County on Tuesday, August 27. The town hall is open to the public and to the media.

The Audubon County town hall will be held in Audubon at the Audubon City Chamber Building located at 800 Market St. The town hall will run from 11:00 AM-12:00 PM Central.

King has pledged to hold a town hall in each of the 39 counties in the 4^th Congressional District this year, and, as scheduled, this town hall will be the 32^nd King will have hosted in the district since January.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Missouri farmer blamed for running the largest organic food fraud scheme in U.S. history has died by suicide, weeks before he was to report to federal prison to begin serving a 10-year term, a coroner said Tuesday.

Livingston County Coroner Scott Lindley confirmed the death of Randy Constant in his hometown of Chillicothe, Missouri. He said Constant died in “a self-inflicted situation” and said more details would be released soon.

A federal judge sentenced Constant to prison at a hearing on Friday for leading what prosecutors dubbed the “field of schemes fraud.” But he granted Constant the ability to self-report to prison in the coming weeks, after the Bureau of Prisons decided where to place him.

The death comes as federal law enforcement officials are under fire for failing to prevent the suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Prosecutors say Constant falsely marketed non-organic corn and soybeans certified as organic on a massive scale. His sales equaled up to 7 percent of organic corn grown in the U.S. in 2016 and 8 percent of the organic soybeans. Overall, from 2010 to 2017, he sold more than 11.5 million bushels of grain, or enough to fill approximately 3,600 rail cars, prosecutors said.

“Randy Constant and his co-conspirators lied to the American public and cheated thousands of consumers,” U.S. Attorney Peter E. Deegan, Jr. said in a statement issued Monday. “For years, Constant put personal greed and self-interest above all else.”

Constant owned an Iowa-based grain brokerage, which sold his corn and soybeans primarily as feed for chickens and cattle. Those animals were then marketed for their meat and meat products that were advertised as organic.

U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams said during the sentencing hearing that Constant’s fraud did “extreme and incalculable damage” to consumers and shook public confidence in the nation’s organic food industry.

He said consumers nationwide were fooled into paying extra to buy products ranging from eggs to steak that they believed were better for the environment and their own health. Instead, they unwittingly purchased food that relied on farming practices they opposed, including the use of chemical pesticides to grow crops.

Williams also gave prison terms Friday to three Overton, Nebraska, farmers whom Constant recruited to join the scheme. Michael Potter, 41, was ordered to serve two years behind bars; James Brennan, 41, was sentenced to one year, eight months; and his father, 71-year-old Tom Brennan, was given a three-month sentence.

Prosecutors did not seek their immediate detention in federal custody, which is routine for defendants who are not seen as dangerous or flight risks.

Williams gave all four the option of entering federal custody immediately, surrendering in two weeks to a regional U.S. Marshals office, or self-reporting to the prison designated by the bureau of prisons. All four chose the final option, which typically might give them three to six more weeks of freedom before incarceration. Williams warned they would have to pay their own way and show up on time or face potential legal consequences.

Constant’s attorney, Mark Weinhardt, described his client last week as a 60-year-old “pillar of the community” who had served on the school board and donated his time and money to local causes and the Methodist church. He said he was stunned by the contradiction between Constant’s record of good deeds and his lengthy fraud scheme.

“Mr. Constant is a real puzzle,” he said.

He said that Constant would be broke and unable to farm for the rest of his life. He had sold his home and his wife of 39 years had come out of retirement to return to teaching to support the family, Weinhardt said.

Federal prosecutors had introduced evidence that Constant was repeatedly traveling to Las Vegas during the scheme, where he gambled and spent heavily to support three women with whom he had sexual relationships.