A Council Bluffs woman was sentenced Monday (April 19) in Council Bluffs U-S District Court, to serve slightly more than 4-years in prison for Possession with the Intent to Distribute/Methamphetamine. As part of her 50-month sentence, 21-year-old Destiny Marsh was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release to follow her prison term and pay a $100 to the Crime Victims’ Fund. There is no parole in the federal system.

On March 3, 2020, Marsh was found unresponsive in her motel room at the Deluxe Inn in Council Bluffs. The Council Buffs Fire Department was dispatched to the scene and upon arrival saw a large bag containing approximately 800 grams of methamphetamine and cash next to Marsh. She pleaded guilty to the offense on November 6, 2020.

The investigation was conducted by the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force and the Council Bluffs Police Department. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – The insurance company for the City of Cedar Rapids is planning to pay an eight million dollar settlement to a black man who was shot during a 2016 traffic stop. Jerime Mitchell is paralyzed from the neck down. Mitchell and his wife sued the City of Cedar Rapids and Lucas Jones, the white officer who shot Mitchell. Jones was fired in June of last year for violating Cedar Rapids Police Department policy during a different traffic stop that happened 36 hours before the one at the center of this case. Mitchell was pulled over because the light on his license plate was out. Mitchell and Jones fought and Jones fired three shots into the vehicle.

Mitchell’s lawsuit was set to go to trial tomorrow (Tuesday). The Cedar Rapids City Council must approve the eight-million dollar settlement. In a written statement, city officials said the case has been divisive and they hope to build trust between the community and the Cedar Rapids Police Department. Mitchell’s lawyer says the most significant outcome from the lawsuit was getting an untruthful police officer fired. The officer’s microphone was turned off during Mitchell’s traffic stop and for the one two days before that led to his firing.

(Radio Iowa) – A half million dollar plan to replace security cameras in the Iowa Capitol complex has the support of Republicans in the Iowa House, but Senate Republicans have not included the project in their preliminary budget plan. In February of last year, a 23-year-old man was charged with vandalism after surveillance camera images showed him breaking into the Capitol on a Sunday morning. Senator Janet Petersen, a Democrat from Des Moines, says the man made it onto the floor of the Iowa Senate.

“We are setting ourselves up for a very dangerous situation if we don’t include money to upgrade the security of this facility,” Petersen says, “so I would encourage as we move on budget negotiations not to neglect security, especially even as we saw what happened at the nation’s Capitol.” Republicans who hold a majority of seats in the Iowa House and Senate are drafting a variety of bills that outline state spending for the next budgeting year. Republican Senator Craig Johnson of Independence predicts the statehouse security project may wind up in one of them.

“I would guess that would come together at the end of all of this,” Johnson says, “when we’re comparing our bills and looking at them.” There are NO committee meetings or floor debate scheduled today (Monday) in the legislature.

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IA – A woman from Pottawattamie County was sentenced to 10 1/2 years in prison for distributing methamphetamine. The U-S District Court Judge in Council Bluffs handed down the sentence April 12th, in the case of 35-year-old Lindsay Hurst, Council Bluffs. Hurst was ordered to serve five years of supervised release to follow her prison term and pay $100
to the Crime Victims’ Fund. There is no parole in the federal system.

In January and February 2020, Hurst sold methamphetamine to a confidential informant on three occasions – selling approximately 130.83 grams total of actual methamphetamine. Hurst
pleaded guilty on November 20, 2020, to the methamphetamine charge.

The investigation was conducted by the Council Bluffs Police Department and Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force. The case was prosecuted by the United States Attorney’s Office for
the Southern District of Iowa.

Adair County Sheriff Jeff Vandewater reports two arrests took place last week. On Wednesday, 34-year-old Daniel Fritz Reeves, of Plattsmouth, NE., was arrested on an Adair County warrant for Conspiracy to Commit an aggravated serious misdemeanor, and Tampering with a Witness or Juror. He was being held in the Adair County Jail on a $4,000 cash/surety bond.

And, On April 11th, 28-year old Alyssa Marie Krzycki, of Orient, was arrested for Domestic Assault with bodily injury, for allegedly striking a subject in the arm. Krzycki was released on a signature bond that same day, after making an initial appearance before the magistrate.

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa D-O-T is looking to bring back a popular holiday feature at the state rest stops. Rest Area Administrator Steve McMenamin, says they hope to bring back local groups which provide snacks for travelers during the July 4th weekend. “Unless we see some other spike in the COVID situation — I think because it’s outside, people are being more cautious, we probably will. We haven’t really decided to go ahead with that yet,” McMenamin says.

He says they won’t be ready to allow the groups during this Memorial Day. Labor Day is the other holiday where groups are allowed to offer FREE refreshments with a suggested donation. “Any non-carbonated drinks, they can’t have pop or anything like that. But water, coffee, lemonade, stuff like that. Homemade goods, cookies, donuts or whatever,” McMenamin says. “That can’t charge for it, but they are allowed to accept donations, which they do. Some groups do pretty well with that.”

He says there is usually a big demand from the groups. “They like the busier sites, typically the I-80 where there’s more traffic. Some groups apply every year. They can get one day, they can get multiple days…they are also allowed to put up a sign to say they are sponsoring — the Lions Club — or whatever it may be,” McMenamin says. He says the use of the rest stops has been increasing. “The traffic on the interstates has noticeably picked up. And even our visitations have noticeably picked up already this year. We are using some cases almost twice the water that we did at some of these sites than just a month ago,” McMenamin says.

McMenamin says the costs of maintaining some of the smaller sites have increased as they have had to increase the amount of staff time needed to clean and sanitize them.