(Clear Lake, Iowa) – A pedestrian is dead after being struck by a box truck early Saturday morning (Nov. 2nd) along Interstate 35 in northern Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol says the accident happened at around 1:15-a.m. on southbound I-35, as 59-year-old Michelle Schutz, of Mason City and another pedestrian walking with her, was struck by a 2019 Kenworth box truck, driven by 60-year-old Henry Moss, Jr., of Des Moines. Schutz died at the scene. The other pedestrian was not injured.

The Patrol says the truck continued southbound on I-35 and was located by a State Trooper near Des Moines.

Assisting at the accident scene were Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s deputies, along with Clear Lake Fire and EMS personnel.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Iowa’s Board of Pharmacy is warning of fake prescriptions for opioid painkillers.

The Board sent an alert to pharmacies reporting scammers are using the real credentials of doctors to fill prescriptions for Oxycodone and Promethazine with Codeine. Both drugs are schedule 2 controlled substances and are potentially addictive painkillers when abused.

The Board says the scammers use convincing security paper with providers’ credentials and use “software failure” on the prescription pad to get around electronic prescribing. On some occasions, the violators use a license number from an out-of-state doctor.

The Board says the scammers are targeting pharmacies in Eastern Iowa and that law enforcement has been contacted.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A woman from the east central Iowa community of Toledo will spend two years in federal prison after stealing $453,672.68 from a family-business where she once worked. A judge, Friday, sentenced 51-year-old Leann Rouse, and ordered her to pay back the entire amount she stole as restitution. Rouse must also serve three years supervised released once she’s let out of prison.

Rouse worked as a bookkeeper for a trucking company in Traer. While hired in July 2011, evidence revealed Friday shows she manipulated the books from January 2015 to August of 2020 while overseeing financial accounting software and payroll.

Rouse wrote roughly 242 unauthorized checks to herself in that time, then used the software to make it look as though the money was going toward business expenditures related to other companies the business worked with. But that was not the case.

Rouse pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on May 31, 2024. She was released on bond before Friday‘s sentencing, and must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons in the future, but a date hasn’t been set.

(Des Moines, Iowa) – A woman is dead and a man was in critical condition, following a shooting Friday evening on the north side of Des Moines.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded at around 5:20-p.m. to the incident that took place in the 200 block of NW 51st place, in Des Moines. First responders arriving on the scene located two shooting victims, and adult female and an adult male.

A suspect in the shootings, 24-year-old Hamza Smajlovic, was taken into custody on charges that include first-degree murder, attempted murder, and intimidation with a dangerous weapon. The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said Smajlovic lives at the residence where the shootings took place.

The names of the victims were withheld by authorities, pending notification of family.

(Lee County, Iowa) – A collision between a car and a semi early Saturday morning (Nov. 2nd) in southeastern Iowa, claimed the life of a man from Florida. The Iowa State Patrol says at around 12:o8-a.m., a 2017 BMW driven by 24-year-old Josue Alexander Boton Pinula, of Middleburg, FL, was traveling west on Iowa Highway 16.

When the man failed to obey at stop sign at the intersection with Highway 218, his car and was struck by a southbound 1995 Kenworth tractor-trailer driven by 68-year-old Paul Douglas White, of Patterson, MO. The accident happened as the car was entering the southbound lanes.

Pinula died at the scene. White was injured and transported by Lee County EMS to the Henry County Hospital in Mount Pleasant.Both drivers were wearing their seat belts. The State Patrol was assisted at the scene by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.