The Red Oak Police Department received a call Thursday night at approximately 7:50pm of an erratic driver.  Officers found the vehicle heading northbound on Highway 48 at 180th Street in Montgomery County and made a traffic stop.  Upon investigation is was determined that the driver was intoxicated.  43-year-old Amy Suzanne Engle of Wichita, KS was charged with OWI 1st Offense and taken to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $1,000 cash bond.

A state audit has recovered records showing thousands of dollars in theft of city money after the main records were destroyed in a fire at the Casey City Hall. State Auditor Mary Mosiman says residents of the Guthrie County town requested an audit of city books.

Mosiman says an accountant attempted to do the audit last August. “When the C-P-A firm arrived at the city to begin the audit engagement, they could not proceed because the records had been deleted,” Mosiman explains. “So the C-P-A contacted our office, and that’s when we made the decision to go in do an investigation. And the night before we were scheduled to arrive, there was a fire.” That fire destroyed the Casey City Hall and any records that were stored there.

Mosiman says her office then began hunting down records from other sources. “We have subpoena power so we were able to subpoena records from the bank. We got copies of redeemed checks from the city’s the banks accounts, we received copies of minutes that were available through backup systems, and financial records, such as payroll journals that were available through the backup accounting system. We also received payroll records based on reports that were filed with IPERS (Eye-pers), the Iowa Public Employee Retirement System,” Mosiman says.

Former City Clerk, Dorothy Dillinger also provided some information. “She basically admitted that she had used some of the city’s money for personal use, and she gave us a time frame and a dollar amount,” according to Mosiman. Mosiman says the amount of money Dillinger gave them did not match up with the amount they found was improperly used. “Our investigation identified a little over a hundred and 16-thousand dollars of improper and unsupported disbursements, as well as almost 182-thousand dollars of deposited utility billing, which had an impact of over 298-thousand dollars to the city,” Mosiman says.

She says the were able to track the missing money in the recovered records. “Over 54-thousand-dollars of credit card purchases that were personal in nature. It also included over 27-thousand dollars in improper payments that Ms. Dillinger issued to herself for vacation payouts. And a little over 77-hundred dollars of improper fuel purchases using the city’s fuel card,” Mosiman says. Those credit card purchases by Dillinger included things like cigarettes, Avon products, electronics and other personal items.

Mosiman says part of the improper payments were utility bills that were waived for Dillinger and the Public Works Director as part of their employment, but that is not allowed by law. The audit covered July of 2008 through October of 2014. Mosiman says Dillinger was able to take city money for her personal use because no one else in the city was checking up on her. “Throughout all these different years there was very little oversight by the city council and the mayor. And this is something that is absolutely necessary — whether it is a large entity with multiple people — or especially with a one-person office that handles all the financial transactions,” Mosiman says. “Those charged with governance, need to provide oversight.”

The audit report has been turned over to state investigators. The Iowa Department of Public Safety issued a statement today acknowledging the State Auditor’s report and says the State Fire Marshal continues to investigate the fire at the Casey City Hall and would not have any further comment at this time. (Radio Iowa)

An Adair man has been arrested by the Audubon County Sheriff’s Office on a valid Audubon County Warrant for Violation of Probation.  An application was filed to revoke the probation of 19-year-old Matthew Henry Paulsen after he allegedly violated probation terms.  Paulsen plead guilty in March of 2015 to Credit Card Fraud and was sentenced to 2 years in prison.  His sentence was suspended and he was placed on formal probation for one year.  Paulsen was taken to the Audubon County Jail and is being held on $5,000 bond.

w/ Chris Parks

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Two separate convenience store robberies occurred overnight in Council Bluffs.

At approximately 1:27 am Council Bluffs Police were called to the Kum & Go store at 2024 5th Avenue in Council Bluffs in reference to a Robbery. The clerk reported a man entered the store from the east wearing a mask and gloves. He went behind the counter, displayed a machete and demanded money from the register. The suspect then fled the store east bound on foot through the alley with an undisclosed amount of cash. Officers searched the area but were unsuccessful in locating the suspect who is described as being a white or Hispanic male with a dark complexion, approximately 6’ 1” tall and 18-25 years old.

Then at approximately 3:33 am Council Bluffs Police were called to a Kwik Shop store at 1602 Ave G for a report of a robbery. The clerk reports a white or Hispanic male with a light brown complexion entered the store wearing a mask and gloves and displayed a knife while demanding money from the register. The suspect then left the store west bound on foot with an undisclosed amount of cash. Officers searched the area but were unable to locate the suspect.

The two robberies are not believed to be related. If you have any information regarding either incident you are asked to please contact Crime Stoppers at (712) 328- STOP(7867).

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The Iowa Department of Transportation employees have started testing a mobile driver’s license app as part of a new pilot program.

MorphoTrust USA, the company providing the software for the app, announced the start of testing Wednesday. The pilot program involves state employees testing the app in various settings.

According to department director Paul Trombino, the agency is not ready to release the app for customer use. There is not set date for when the app could be released to the public.

The company says the Iowa department employees are the first in the nation to use its mobile driver’s license software.

PANORA, Iowa (AP) – Officials say they’re investigating the cause of a wastewater discharge that entered Lake Panorama in central Iowa.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it’s unclear what caused a pump to fail Saturday night at a lift station managed by the South Panorama Sanitary District. Officials reported the problem Sunday morning, around the time officials believe the discharge ended.

DNR officials say it wasn’t clear to the agency that there was a wastewater discharge until Monday night. The sanitary district believes it was likely a small discharge.

It’s unclear what caused a pump to fail, since all pumps at the lift station appear to be functional.

Officials for the sanitary district are considering the construction of a new lift station, where discharges would be less likely to reach the lake.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s top insurance regulator has approved rate increases for several health providers in the state.

Insurance Commissioner Nick Gerhart announced Wednesday that he approved increases on individual insurance plans provided by Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Coventry Health Care and Gundersen Health Insurance. The changes go into effect in January.

The Des Moines Register reports the rate increases include between 17.6 percent and 28.7 percent on average for plans by Wellmark, 19.8 percent on average for plans by Coventry and 9.4 percent on average for plans by Gundersen.

The newspaper reports some residents who attended a hearing earlier this year on the proposed increases criticized it. Officials for at least two of the providers say the increases were needed because of unexpected health care costs.

On Monday, August 24th Stuart Police officers recovered approximately 25 grams of methamphetamine from a Creston man after he was arrested in the 700 block of S. Division St. He was charged with Possession of Methamphetamine with the Intent to Deliver. He was also found to be in possession of hundreds of illegal prescription pills which he was also charged with.

This drug seizure was one of several over the last 2 weeks by Stuart Officers. In the last 10 days alone Stuart Officers have seized approximately $6,000 worth of methamphetamine, approximately $1,500 of illegal prescription pills, and approximately $1,000 worth of marijuana.

The Red Oak Police released details on two arrests in the past 24 hours.

On Wednesday, August 26th officers arrested 21-year-old Jesse Dean Uhlmann of Red Oak on a Montgomery County Warrant for Revocation of Probation.  Uhlmann was taken to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and held on $10,000 cash bond.

Early this (Thursday) morning at 12:45am officers arrested 45-year-old Teri Ann Nelson of Red Oak for Domestic Abuse Assault Second Offense (An Aggravated Misdemeanor).  Nelson was taken to the Montgomery County Law Enforcement Center and held on no bond until seen by a Magistrate.