Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports deputies with the Fremont County Sheriffs Office Narcotics and K9 units conducted an investigation into narcotics activity in Fremont County, Friday night. The investigation led to the arrest early this (Saturday) morning, of 30 year old Brandon Gutheil, of Council Bluffs.

Deputies arrested Gutheil for the Delivery of a controlled substance/methamphetamine. During the arrest, over 30 grams of methamphetamine was recovered, along with $1,626 in U-S Currency.

Gutheil was transported to the Fremont County Law Enforcement Center where he was being held on a $100,000 cash only bond.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than 2,000 family, friends and public safety officers gathered at a West Des Moines church to honor one of two Des Moines police officers killed in a head-on crash. The Des Moines Register reports it has been a difficult time for the family of Carlos Puente-Morales, who died with officer Susan Farrell Saturday in a crash with a wrong-way driver.

During the Mass at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, Bishop Richard Pates acknowledged the family’s great loss in the past 16 months. Puente-Morales’ brother died in a November 2014 traffic accident and their father died months later.

Puente-Morales had worked as an officer in Ottumwa before moving to Des Moines police. A prisoner being transported by the officers and the other driver were also killed.

The Iowa Supreme Court rules on the definition of an accident in a central Iowa insurance case. An S-U-V traveling on Highway 5 near Hartford on April 29th of 2011 crossed highway and struck the trailer of a semi just before 5 a-m. Seconds after the collision, a motorcyclist ran into the damaged S-U-V. The driver of the S-U-V, John Crivaro, died in the accident.

Truck driver Marlin Just, and motorcyclist, Travis Hughes, both sued Crivaro’s insurance company for damages. The Farmers Insurance Company said Crivaro’s policy has damage cap of 500-thousand dollars for each accident. Hughes and Just sued saying there were two separate accidents.

The Supreme Court ruling says — while there were multiple vehicles involved — there was a minimal time between when the S-U-V struck the semi and the motorcycle struck the S-U-V, and it upheld the district court ruling that there was only one accident.

(Radio Iowa)

Authorities in Iowa are investigating the death of a northwest Iowa man. Officials say on Wednesday, March 30th, the Cherokee Police Department was notified by St. Lukes Hospital in Sioux City that 41-year old Jesse Wendelsdorf, of Cherokee, had been admitted to their hospital in serious condition one day earlier. Thursday evening, died at St. Lukes.

The cause and manner of Wendelsdorf’s death is under investigation.  An autopsy has been scheduled for April 2nd at the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny.

The Cherokee Police Department along with the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner are continuing to investigate. No other details concerning the incident were released.

Atlantic Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring reports the Atlantic Parks and Recreation Department has opened all of the public restrooms at Sunnyside Park and City Park for the public’s convenience. The Department asks that you treat the restrooms with the same respect as you would your own.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) – A judge has ruled that Iowa inmates have the right to legal counsel when challenging Department of Corrections’ decisions that can add time to their sentences. If upheld on appeal, the ruling could help inmates during classification and disciplinary hearings run by department officials. It’s not clear who would pay for their attorneys.

The department on Thursday appealed the decision by Judge Scott Rosenburg. The Iowa Supreme Court will decide whether to keep the case or send it to the Court of Appeals. The high court ruled last year that misdemeanor defendants have the right to counsel under the Iowa Constitution. Given that decision, Rosenburg says it makes sense that inmates “facing the possibility of an increase in the amount of time he or she will be incarcerated” also qualify.

Law enforcement officers in Page County, Thursday afternoon, arrested a man wanted on a Page County warrant for Probation Violation. Sheriff’s Deputies and Officers with the Shenandoah Police Department took 35-year old Michael Wayne England, II, of Clarinda, into custody at around 3:25-p.m.

England was wanted on a warrant associated with an original charge of Harassment in the 1st degree. He was unable to post a $2,000 cash bond, and was transported to the Page County Jail where he awaits an appearance before the court.

(Update 9:52-a.m.: Harlan Police have located the vehicle. No other details are available)

Authorities in western Iowa are on the lookout for a vehicle stolen sometime Thursday night, from Harlan. According to a BOLO (Be On the Look Out for)  broadcast from State Radio, the vehicle taken was a white, 2007 Buick Rendezvous, with Iowa Shelby County license plate number CQF 930.

If you happen to see the vehicle, contact your local law enforcement agency.

2007 Buick Rendezvous (Similar to the one reported stolen)

A southwest Iowa man is gathering signatures in hopes of finding some justice for his daughter who was killed by an alleged drunk driver earlier this year. Scott Root, of Council Bluffs, says the man charged in the fatal crash was in the U-S illegally, yet was released on a very low bond and is believed to have fled the country. Now, Root wants the judge who set that bond punished.

Root says, “I’d called Officer Swanson at the police station and he said, ‘Scott, I’m trying to get an ICE hold on him and I’ll call you back in 10 minutes.’ In about 10 minutes he called back and said, ‘I’m sorry to inform you, he’s been bonded out,’ the same day you’re burying your kid.”

Omaha police say the suspect, 19-year-old Eswin Mejia, of Honduras, was street racing and driving drunk on January 31st when he rear-ended the S-U-V driven by 21-year-old Sarah Root of Council Bluffs, killing her. Root had graduated the day before from Bellevue University with a 4.0 grade point. Bond was set by the judge on Mejia at $50,000 and he was released after posting the standard ten-percent, or five-thousand dollars. He hasn’t been seen since. Root wants that judge to answer for his actions.

“Everybody should be held accountable for what they do, or what? They don’t keep their job,” Root says. “In my eyes, I don’t believe he should (keep his job). He should resign or have some type of repercussion for what he did. Whether it be not looking at the facts or choosing to look the other way. I don’t know what it is. I just don’t get it.”

Police say Mejia’s blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit and he was driving on a suspended license when he was speeding and caused the accident. Root wants to see Mejia — and the judge — held responsible. “If you look at the facts of this gentleman’s past, even prior to killing my daughter, that shows you what kind of person he is,” Root says. “If you don’t think it’s right, you think (the judge) dropped the ball, give me a signature. Maybe it’ll change somebody else’s life. Maybe it won’t but if you don’t try, nothing is going to happen.”

Root says he’ll be collecting signatures on his petition tomorrow (Saturday) starting at 11 A-M at the corner of 78th and Dodge Street in Omaha. He says he’ll take the petitions to the Nebraska Supreme Court.

(Radio Iowa)

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Three Iowa child sex cases against a Nebraska jail officer have been consolidated. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Shawn Beu has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor and possession of child pornography. His trial is scheduled to begin June 1 in Pottawattamie County District Court. A judge has barred most of the court documents from public scrutiny.

Beu was arrested on warrants after a search of his Council Bluffs home. He’s a corrections sergeant at the Douglas County Jail in Omaha.