DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Court documents show the adoptive father of a 16-year-old girl who starved to death will enter a new plea later this month. Forty-seven-year-old Joseph Finn II already has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping, child endangerment and neglect or abandonment. His former wife, Nicole Finn, was convicted Dec. 14 of murder and other crimes in the October 2016 death of Natalie Finn.
Medical examiners say Natalie Finn died from emaciation due to denial of critical care.

Polk County court records say the March 21 plea hearing was set Wednesday at the request of Finn’s lawyers. The records don’t say whether a deal with prosecutors has been reached.

Red Oak Police report making two arrests late Wednesday morning. 37-year old Rose Amber Lopez, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 11:16-a.m., after Red Oak Police, assisted by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies, responded to the Montgomery County Memorial Hospital, where Lopez was allegedly making “A loud and raucous noise,” causing hospital occupants “unreasonable distress.” She was charged with Disorderly Conduct and brought to the Montgomery County Jail, where bond was set at $300.

While on that call, and at about the same time, Red Oak Police and Montgomery County Deputies could hear a male yelling. The noise lead officers and deputies to the 300 block of E. Valley Street, where 24-year old Jesse Dean Uhlmann, of Red Oak, was located, and subsequently arrested for Serious Domestic Abuse Assault. Uhlmann was being held in the Montgomery County Jail without bond.

Groups and individuals calling for improvements in Iowa’s mental health care system say it appears some progress may be near. On Tuesday, the Iowa House passed a comprehensive plan to improve access to mental health care services in Iowa. Marion County Sheriff Jason Sandholdt was among advocates who were at the statehouse Wednesday to lobby SENATORS to approve that bill.

“Our goal, with the Iowa Sheriffs and Deputies Association, is for when people have a mental health crisis, it’s just as important as somebody having a heart attack or a stroke,” he said. “The people need the care and this bill will help do that.”

Mary Neubauer of Clive began “speaking out for change” after her son, Sergei, took his life in September. She says her son’s story “shows those with mental illnesses don’t have time to wait.” “It’s too late for us and for Sergei,” Neubauer said. “…We have the opportunity to save lives. I want us to do better and I am not alone.”

More than five-thousand people have signed an on-line petition that calls for urgent action to address deficiencies in Iowa’s mental health care system. Steve Baumert the president and C-E-O of Jennie Edmonson Hospital in Council Bluffs is chairman of the Iowa Hospital Association’s board of directors. He was at the statehouse yesterday (Wednesday) to deliver that message to state policymakers.”You have a chance to change lives and save lives,” he said, “and what a tremendous legacy that would be.”

Peggy Huppert of the National Alliance on Mental Illness says Iowa has reached a “tipping point.”  “Mental illness affects tens of thousands of Iowans and they’ve raised their voices in unison to say: ‘More must be done,'” Huppert said.

Preliminary discussions also continued at the statehouse yesterday (Wednesday) over a plan to improve mental health care services for children.

(Radio Iowa)