MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Mason City mom accused of making her kids sleep in a feces-covered room has pleaded guilty. Online court records say 26-year-old Alexis Martinez filed a written plea Wednesday to one count of felony neglect of a dependent person. She’d been charged with three counts. The records don’t list a sentencing date.

Court documents say Martinez forced her children, ages 2, 4 and 6, in late August to sleep for a week in a room that had feces on the walls and floor.

A man from Malvern was taken into custody early this (Thursday) morning after being taken down by the Fremont County K9 unit. Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope reports that at around 3:16-a.m., the K9 Unit (Deputy Zac Buttercase & his K9 partner “Judge”) were called to assist Mills County Sheriff’s Deputies in the vicinity of 55489 295th Street (by Silver City). Authorities were searching for a suspect who had fled from a burglary scene.

After a perimeter was established by Mills County Deputies, the Fremont County K9 tracked the suspect through about One and one-quarter miles of timber, fields and creek beds.

Suspect Jeremy Erickson

When the K9 unit located the suspect, 37-year old Jeremy Erickson, of Malvern, he was given commands to surrender, but instead turned to flee.  Fremont County K9 “Judge” tackled Erickson, allowing him to be taken into custody without further incident.

Erickson was checked by medical staff on the scene before being transported to the Mills County Jail, where he was being held on several charges. The incident remains under investigation by Mills County authorities.

Fremont County K9 “Judge”

The Audubon Community School District’s Board of Education will hold a special session this evening in their Board Room, at the High School. The meeting begins at 6:30-p.m., and the only action item on their agenda, is approval of a Sanitary Sewer Right-of-Way easement.

Police in Council Bluffs are looking for two suspects who allegedly robbed a pizza delivery driver late Wednesday night. Authorities say the suspects are two black males. One is about five-feet six-inches tall, weighed about 190-pounds and was wearing a “Gap” sweatshirt. The other suspect was tall, with a slender build.

Officials say the incident happened at around 11:55-p.m., Wednesday. A Papa John’s delivery driver told police she was robbed when she went to deliver an order at the Cottonwood Apartments (800 blk No 34th St, Council Bluffs, IA).

The victim reported that as she arrived at the apartment complex she was met by a male party outside who advised he had made the order and provided the name that the pizza was ordered under. When she requested payment for the pizzas the male party refused to pay and called out to another male party who walked up behind her.

One of the men restrained the victim while the other took several pizzas and an undisclosed amount of money from her vehicle. The two males then fled the area Northbound towards the Featherstone Apartment Complex (901 No 35th St). The female victim reported minor injuries but refused medical treatment.

If anyone has information on the suspects, or who may have witnessed the crime are urged to contact the Council Bluffs Police Department Criminal Investigation Division (712) 328-4728 or Crime Stoppers (712) 328-7867.

AMES, Iowa (AP) – A former teacher in the North Polk Community School District has been accused having a sexual relationship with a teenage student. Twenty-nine-year-old Kevin Muehlenthaler, of Ames, was arrested Wednesday. Court records say he’s been charged with four counts of sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist.

Authorities say a woman told police she had a relationship with Muehlenthaler between November 2013 and July 2014 when she was a student of 16 and then 17 years old.  The district says Muehlenthaler was employed August 2013 to June 2016 and that the district became aware of the allegations only after he left the district.