DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) — A man accused of Dubuque home invasions and sexual assaults in 2011 and 2014 has pleaded not guilty. Dubuque County court records say 29-year-old Martel Fountain Sr. filed the written pleas Tuesday. He’s charged with four counts of sexual abuse and four of burglary. A trial date hasn’t been set.

The records say Fountain assaulted three women in 2011 after forcing his way into their homes. The documents say another was raped in 2014 after Fountain forced her into her garage.
Prosecutors say a DNA sample taken from Fountain in March 2018 after his arrest in the federal drug case linked him to the four Dubuque assaults. DNA information from those four cases had been filed in an FBI database.

The Adair County Sheriff and his Deputies were involved in four pursuits over the past two weeks. Most recently, at around 9:40-a.m. Thursday, an attempt by Sheriff Jeff Vandewater to initiate a traffic stop in Bridgewater, resulted in a 40-minute pursuit that came to an end when “stop sticks” were successfully deployed southwest of Massena. The driver of the vehicle, 36-year old Daniel Floyd Edwards, of Tingley, was arrested on multiple, outstanding warrants. Additional charges are pending. Other agencies assisting in the pursuit include: The Cass County Sheriff’s Office; Iowa DNR/Traffic Enforcement; State Fire Marshal’s office; the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa State Patrol, and Fontanelle Police.

On April 7th at around 4:50-p.m., an Adair County Sheriff’s Deputy attempted to stop a Dodge Durango pickup driven by 32-year old James Robert Lyman, of Greenfield, who has an active warrant for Driving While Barred (DWB). Lyman tried to elude law enforcement for about 12 minutes on secondary roads and through fields until he barrel-rolled out of the moving vehicle. He was captured after a short foot pursuit and faces charges that include Felony Eluding, Possession of a Controlled Substance (Meth) with the intent to deliver, driving while barred and on the outstanding DWB warrant. Lyman was arrested three days earlier, following another pursuit with nearly identical circumstances. Warrants were filed following the April 4th incident, charging Lyman with Failure to Obey a Stop Sign and DWB.

And, as we mentioned earlier this week, 37-year old Marco Antonio Gonzalez-Batista, of Omaha, was arrested during the late evening hours of March 31st, following a pursuit that began in Greenfield and ended east of Massena on Highway 92. Gonzalez-Batista was charged with Possession of Meth, Eluding, Reckless Driving, and Speeding.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A woman who implicated two innocent people in a Des Moines slaying has been sent to prison for murder. Polk County District Court records say 54-year-old Helen Frazier was sentenced last week to 52 years in prison. She’d been convicted of second-degree murder and two counts of malicious prosecution. Prosecutors say she stabbed to death 55-year-old Andrea “Andre” Brown in January 2017.

Frazier initially provided police information that led to the arrest of a Des Moines man. He spent 17 days in jail before charges against him were dropped. Prosecutors say Frazier lied again in telling investigators that another person killed Brown.

(Radio Iowa) — Twice this year, Democrats in the Iowa House have been unsuccessful in getting Republicans to vote for a major change in the state’s Medicaid program. Democrats like Lisa Heddens of Ames argue care for about 38-thousand intellectually disabled Iowans should no longer be managed by private, for-profit companies. “I’m tired of hearing from the families…knowing nothing is going to change,” Heddens says.

Private companies oversee long-term services for intellectually disabled Iowans who need a ride to a job or staff assistance in an independent living home. Heddens is the mother of an adult son who is intellectually disabled. His Medicaid benefits have been managed by UnitedHealthcare, the company that’s exiting Iowa’s Medicaid program. “I’m frightened for the future for my son and so are the families that are out there and they are just begging this body to carve out this small population, give them some stability,” Heddens says.

Heddens favors a return having state-employed case managers for Medicaid recipients like her son. Iowa Department of Human Services director Jerry Foxhoven says the managed care contracts provide protections for Medicaid recipients who have to switch from UnitedHealthcare to another company. Governor Reynolds has repeatedly said the state will stick with managed care for all Iowa Medicaid patients, as costs were escalating in the old fee-for-service system.