The Audubon County Sheriff’s Office reports a Cass County man faces drug charges, following an investigation into an incident which occurred January 6th, in rural Audubon County. 38-year old Joseph John King, of Marne, was charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance/Marijuana, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. The incident whereby the drugs were found allegedly took place in the 11-hundred block of 150th Street, in Audubon County. King appeared in magistrate court this (Thursday) morning.

Sheriff’s officials in Audubon County report an Elk Horn teen was injured during a rollover accident Wednesday night south of Kimballton. 17-year old Daniel Jacob Brown was transported by private vehicle to the Cass County Memorial Hospital following the crash, which happened on County Road M-66 near the intersection with Sharon Road, at around 10:30-p.m.  Officials say Brown was traveling south on M-66 when he lost control of the 1993 Chevy pickup he was driving, after he applied to brakes in order to avoid a deer on the road. The pickup entered a ditch and began to roll. Damage to the truck was estimated at $3,500. The accident remains under investigation.

The FBI is investigating a bank robbery Wednesday at the Citizens First National Bank in the northwest Iowa town of Early. According to Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure, the robber entered the bank at 9:43am and demanded cash from the tellers. The suspect did not display or threaten the tellers with a weapon. The suspect fled on foot from the bank with an undisclosed amount of cash. No injuries were reported.

The suspect is described as a white male, who is six feet tall and weighs between 200 and 225 pounds. He was wearing a gray stocking cap, dark colored sunglasses, blue hooded sweatshirt that was on backwards, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes. He had a light colored beard.

This is the second bank robbery in Sac County in the past two weeks. Iowa State Bank in Odebolt was robbed on December 29th. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sac County Sheriff’s Office at 712-662-7127, or the FBI at 402-493-8688.

(Radio Iowa)

Additional complaints have been filed against a Council Bluffs anesthesiologist accused last month of sexual misconduct and professional incompetency. Three women have stepped forward to accuse 48-year old Dr. Michael Prescher of wrongdoing. The women alleged Prescher treated them when his office was closed and no other staff were present. They also alleged: that he gave them an I-V sedation before he administered pain management injections; they were unconscious for lengthy periods of time; and, that Prescher did not charge them for the procedures, even though the women had insurance. One of the women also alleges Prescher released her to drive home alone, while she was under the influence of sedation.

The new charges led the Iowa Board of Medicine to amend the charges against Prescher, who lives in Omaha. The Board issued an emergency order in December, suspending Prescher’s license, for allegedly engaging in sexual misconduct and professional incompetency, for performing injection procedures for pain treatment on two female patients who were under sedation. Prescher denied any wrongdoing in association with the first two allegations. Council Bluffs Police conducted an investigation into the initial allegations made last month, and concluded that the investigations should end without any formal criminal filings. Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber said the evidence gathered by police was insufficient to secure a conviction against Prescher.

Under terms of the emergency order, Prescher is prohibited from practicing medicine until the matter is resolved. He’s scheduled to appear before the Board during a hearing today in Des Moines. The hearing is not open to the public.

w/ Ric Hanson

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Police in Council Bluffs arrested one person in connection with the robbery of a pharmacy Wednesday morning. 30-year old Donald A. White, of Council Bluffs, faces charges which include Robbery in the 1st degree, and theft in the 2nd degree. An employee of the Union Pharmacy on West Broadway detained the suspect until police could arrive and take him into custody. White is also suspected of committing a robbery at the CVS Pharmacy on West Washington Street in Council Bluffs, last Sunday evening.

Officials say Bluffs Police officers were called to the store just after 10-a.m, Wednesday, after receiving word a robbery had occurred. While enroute, they learned the suspect was being physically detained. Authorities say White entered the pharmacy wearing dark clothing and a black nylon over his face. He approached clerk Bill Shipley and threatened him with a box cutter before demanding the pain killer hydromorphine.

Shipley punched White in the face and after a struggle, was able to hold him down until police arrived. Shipley told an Omaha television station “You don’t have time to deal with this stuff. It just makes you mad.” Witnesses at the scene told police White arrived at the store in a Dodge pickup, which was later determined to have been stolen out of Omaha. A different Dodge truck was used in Sunday’s robbery. It was recovered shortley after the CVS Pharmacy robbery took place. Officials say charges are pending in connection with that incident.

Police in Red Oak say a local man was arrested just after 3-a.m. today (Thursday), on a charge of Public Intoxication. 57-year old James Donald Uhlmann, Sr., of Red Oak, was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on $300 bond.

The Iowa State Patrol is investigating a crash Wednesday evening which claimed the life of a southwest Iowa man, in Mills County. Authorities say 62-year old Randall Jones, of Henderson, died at the scene of the crash on Highway 34, about two-miles east of Malvern, at around 5-p.m., Wednesday.  Jones was driving a 2003 Buick LeSabre east on Highway 34, when his car collided near the centerline of the road with a westbound 1997 Ford pickup, driven by 40-year old Agustin Argueta, of Omaha.

Argueta, and two passengers in his truck, 21-year old Hector Gimenez, and 28-year old Rubin Antonio Soza Alvarez, both of whom are from Omaha, were transported to Creighton University Medical Center. Argueta and Gimenz were taken to the hospital by Malvern Rescue, while Alvarez was transported by Glenwood Rescue. Gimenez was the only one of the accident victims who was not wearing a seatbelt.

An out of control semi collided with a semi and a pickup in the opposite lanes of  an ice-covered Interstate 80 Wednesday evening in Cass County. The accident resulted in one person being sent to the hospital. According to the Iowa State Patrol, the crash happened about a mile and a-half east of the exit to Highway 71, at around 6:15-p.m.

Officials said a semi driven by 36-year old Sara Anderson, of Ham Lake, MN, and a Dodge pickup, driven by 21-year old Richard Franks, Jr., of Knox, IN, were traveling westbound in the slow lane of I-80, when an eastbound semi driven by 28-year old Ryan Keasey, of Hamburg, went out of control due to the high winds and icy road conditions. The Peterbilt went through the median before colliding with a Volvo semi driven by Anderson, and Franks Jr’.’s pickup. All three vehicles came to rest on the Interstate, blocking traffic for about two-hours.

Richard Franks, Jr. was transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital in Atlantic, by Medivac ambulance. Neither of the semi drivers was injured.