Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 3:50 a.m. CST

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Storm Lake man has pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography. Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old James Gailey was convicted after pleading guilty on Monday to the single count. At his plea hearing in Sioux City, Gailey admitted that in October 2017 and January 2018, he received child pornography online. Prosecutors say the images included victims as young as infants and toddlers.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Iowa have announced the indictments of six people suspected of having stolen various opioids from nursing homes where they had worked. The indictments were announced in a news release Wednesday. All are charged with acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception, and subterfuge.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa lawmaker is accusing the administration of Gov. Kim Reynolds and the director of the state’s human resources agency of “fostering a culture of secrecy in state government” for refusing to release information on the number of sexual harassment cases filed within state agencies in recent years. Democratic Rep. Amy Nielsen said she’s received a bureaucratic runaround in her attempts to get data on the number of cases from Department of Administrative Services Director Janet Phipps.

FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) — Authorities in north-central Iowa say a Fort Dodge police officer was found unresponsive in his squad car after handling a suspected opioid and had to be revived. The Fort Dodge Police Department has released police body camera video of the officer being pulled from the squad car on Sunday, placed on a gurney and loaded into the back of an ambulance. Police believe the substance the officer handled was a form of fentanyl, a powerful opioid that is fueling a national epidemic of fatal overdoses.

(Radio Iowa) — Casinos in Sioux City and Jefferson agreed to fines of 20-thousand dollars each at the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission meeting Tuesday for violations of rules. Iowa Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says the Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City agreed to a 20-thousand dollar fine after they experienced outages in security camera coverage between December of 2017 and August of 2018.

“Rules require different types of surveillance coverage for different areas. The particular situation at Hard Rock, there were multiple cameras that were down,” Ohorilko explains. “In some instances, that’s not necessarily a problem, and in other cases it could be.” Ohorilko says the large number of outages figured into the amount of the fine along with the lag in reporting the problem.

“It was a situation where it wasn’t immediately reported to the commission staff….a large part of compliance is about voluntary reporting,” he says. Hard Rock general manager Jim Franke, apologized to the commission. “As a company we do take great pride in how train our staff to follow the rules and regulations set forth by the I-R-G-C and to fully cooperate with I-R-G-C and D-C-I personnel,” Franke say. “Actions that negatively impact the culture of compliance are not and will not be tolerated.”

He says the supervisors knew the procedures and it was frustrating to find they were not followed. “During the same period of time when the cables were causing these camera failures, we experienced three other equipment malfunctions that were all reported and addressed appropriately. We have no indication why they would, and can’t understand why these weren’t disclosed in the same manner,” Franke says.

Franke says they have taken steps to ensure the surveillance video is handled properly. He says they have hired a surveillance manager with 22 years of experience who is respected and has a good working relationship with the I-R-G-C and the D-C-I. Franke says that manager has “re-established a culture of compliance through retraining of the Iowa administrative code, I-R-G-C rules and regulations, our system of internal controls, and our standard operating procedures.”

The fine against the Hard Rock could have been as high as 25-thousand dollars. The other violation involved the Wild Rose casino in Jefferson, which was fined 20-thousand dollars for allowing a minor onto the gambling floor in November. She gambled and was on the floor for 40 minutes before staff identified her. General manager Travis Dvorak spoke to the commission.

“We take responsible gaming seriously, we take underage gaming very seriously,” according to Dvorak. “In the three-and-a-half years that we’ve been operation, we’ve had one-point-six milion admissions — and this is our first and only violation of this nature.” He says they have worked with employees to ensure this doesn’t happen again. “We have taken this opportunity, I have readdressed and reemphasized this importance of this issue with our staff. We increased our training time for our security officers — we extended from a two week to a three-week period — and we are reemphasizing the importance of challenging our patrons when they walk in,” Dvorak says.

He says they are getting everyone at the facility involved. “We held meetings with our entire staff and we re-emphasized the need for all employees to be diligent and observant of all potential underage patrons. We also re-emphasized that is the responsibility of every employee to look for minors and to check identification,” Dvorak says.

The fines for underage gambling violations are based on the number of violations in a 365 day period, and increase with each violation.

(Radio Iowa) — Eight Republicans on a senate committee have endorsed a plan to send state grants to the parents of special needs students who want to enroll their children in a private rather than a public school. Republican Senator Brad Zaun of Urbandale says “I think this is a big first step of empowering the parents to pick the best school, not defined by their zip code.” Republican Senator Jerry Behn from Boone would have preferred giving state grants to EVERY parent of a school-aged child in Iowa, but he says this set of students can be a proving ground.

“If you take some of the most difficult children to work with and start with that, if it works with that, it ought to be easy to move on,” Behn says. Two Republicans on the Senate Education Committee joined the five Democrats on the panel to oppose the bill. Senator Clair Celsi, a Democrat from Des Moines, says starting with the most fragile students who need the most help is wrong.

“Make no mistake, this is a fundamental rewriting of the way we do public education here in the state of Iowa,” Celsi says. Senator Herman Quirmbach, a Democrat from Ames, says the consolidation of rural schools will accelerate if parents are given state money to pay for private schooling. “We will wind up bleeding both students and dollars out of our smaller school districts,” Quirmbach said. Bill backers estimate there are about 60-thousand special needs students in Iowa.

Opponents say it would shift hundreds of millions of tax dollars from public to private schools if each of those students transferred. However, the bill does not require private schools to accept students with an individual education plan because of special circumstances, like a disability or behavior issues.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Storm Lake man has pleaded guilty to one count of receiving child pornography. Federal prosecutors say 49-year-old James Gailey was convicted after pleading guilty on Monday to the single count. At his plea hearing in Sioux City, Gailey admitted that in October 2017, he used an online image account to receive child pornography.

He also admitted that in January 2018, he did the same thing. Prosecutors say the images included victims as young as infants and toddlers.

Gailey remains in custody until he’s sentenced at a later date. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Iowa have announced the indictments of six people suspected of having stolen various opioids from nursing homes where they had worked.

The indictments were announced in a news release Wednesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Scherle says the cases are being prosecuted as part of the Department of Justice’s Elder Abuse Initiative. All are charged with acquiring a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, deception, and subterfuge.

Those indicted are 36-year-old Arminda Cruickshank, of Osceola; 47-year-old Barbara Jean Tindall, of Keosauqua; 30-year-old Christine Renee Weilbrenner, of Ankeny; and 29-year-old Samantha Anne Mills and 32-year-old Alicia Danielle Swenson, both of Des Moines. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say 31-year-old Katie Christine Howard, of Des Moines, pleaded guilty to two counts on Feb. 11 and will be sentenced in July.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa lawmaker is accusing the administration of Gov. Kim Reynolds and the director of the state’s human resources agency of “fostering a culture of secrecy in state government” for refusing to release information on the number of sexual harassment cases filed within state agencies in recent years.

Democratic Rep. Amy Nielsen said she’s received a bureaucratic runaround in her attempts to get data on the number of cases from Department of Administrative Services Director Janet Phipps. Nielsen said taxpayers have paid out more than $7.5 million in settlements in the past two years and deserve to know if there are other cases that could cost even more.

Nielsen wants to know the number of cases so they can be compared to future years to determine whether the state is improving its sexual harassment record. Nielsen sought the number of sexual harassment complaints under investigation, the number of cases closed in the last five fiscal years and the number of cases initiated.

She said DAS refused to provide the information, citing confidentiality, and the attorney general’s office told her to seek the data from the Legislative Services Agency, a nonpartisan state agency that provides the legislature research and data information to lawmakers.

The LSA, however, told Nielsen that even though DAS provided the information, the agency requested it not to be released to her. A Jan. 25 letter from Phipps to the Legislative Services Agency indicates even the general numbers she seeks are confidential. Nielsen said what she seeks is not traceable to any individual and should not be confidential, and she called Phipps’ decision not to turn over the information “beyond disappointing.” Nielsen filed a complaint Wednesday with the Iowa Public Information Board.

Page County Sheriff Lyle Palmer reports two arrests. Today (Wednesday), 39-year old Michael Wayne England II, of Clarinda, was arrested for Driving while license is barred. England was transported to the Page County Jail where he is being held on $2,000 bond.

On March 2nd, 47-year old Jeff Harrison, of rural Clarinda, was arrested at the Page County Sheriff’s Office, on a Page County Warrant for theft 5th Degree. Harrison posted the $300 bond and was released pending further court proceedings.

Officials with the Council Bluffs Police Department today (Wednesday) said two people,

Stec

21-year old Liam Stec, and a 16-year old male, both from Omaha, have been arrested in connection with the death of a man from Council Bluffs. A warrant was issued for a third suspect, 20-year old Nicholas Haner, of Harlan. Haner’s location is unknown. Anyone with information on his location is urged to contact the  Council Bluffs Police Department at 328-STOP (7867) or call 9-1-1 if he is seen in public.

Haner

On January 24th, the deceased body of 38-year old Adam Angeroth of Council Bluffs was found inside his apartment.  His family had not heard from him for several days.  An autopsy confirmed evidence of foul play in Angeroth’s death, including blunt force trauma and knife wounds.

After conducting numerous interviews and examining physical evidence, detectives were able to obtain Murder 1st Degree warrants for three subjects, accusing them of participating in the killing of Angeroth.  The teenager’s name has not officially been released by law enforcement – his case will begin in Juvenile Court, when/if there is a determination to hear his case as an adult, in District Court, his identity will become public record.

The case still remains under investigation, as we have not ruled out the possibility that additional arrests may be forthcoming.  Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to contact CBPD detectives at 712-328-4728, or leave their information anonymously by calling 712-328-STOP (7867).

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa-based transportation company has settled a disability discrimination lawsuit filed over what federal authorities was the company’s refusal to accommodate a Navy veteran who used a service dog. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a news release Wednesday that CRST Expedited/CRST International will pay $47,500 and provide other relief. The lawsuit said CRST violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by refusing to hire and retaliating against a truck driver applicant who told a recruiter that the dog helped him with his post-traumatic stress disorder. A company lawyer declined to comment.

The commission says the applicant successfully completed the required commercial drivers’ licensing course with CRST’s partner training company but wasn’t hired because of CRST’s “no pet” policy. CRST is based in Cedar Rapids.

(Radio Iowa) — An Iowa House committee has voted to prohibit companies that manage prescription drug benefit plans from forcing patients to get their medications through the mail. Representative John Forbes of Urbandale is a pharmacist. Forbes says he often has to fix the problems when mail order companies fail. “We had one patient have their insulin frozen that was mailed to them by mail order,” Forbes says. “Luckily, they found out it was frozen.”

Insulin cannot be used if it’s been frozen. Forbes says a month ago he had a patient bring in three-thousand dollars worth of pills they’d been mailed, but no longer needed. “Mail orders say…they’re going to save money,” Forbes says. “…It doesn’t save money. They don’t call all the time and make sure that people really need those meds.” Representative Brian Best, a Republican from Glidden, says he’s seen mail order company abuses, too. “I owned a durable medical supply company and I saw companies that would sell tons of CPAP devices and you’d go to somebody’s closet and their closet was literally full of things they hadn’t used and I think with mail order, that can happen,” Best says.

Representative Shannon Lundgren, a Republican from Peosta, says a local pharmacist rather than a mail order company is often the better choice for the patient’s health. “That face-to-face contact is of course extremely important when they’re dealing with extremely high dose or medication changes,” Lundgren says.  A representative of the state agency that manages Medicaid told lawmakers the state will likely have to spend more if mail order companies can’t be used for any of the medications prescribed to Medicaid patients.