DES MOINES, Iowa – Officials with the U-S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, say a Des Moines man was sentenced today (Wednesday) to 384 months in federal prison after a jury convicted him of charges related to firearms straw purchasing and illegally possessing firearms and a machinegun.

According to public court documents and evidence presented at trial and sentencing, believing that a group of people contained a rival gang member, Dontavius Rashawn Sharkey, age 27 and a member of the C-Block gang, open-fired with two firearms into a crowd of people attending a baby shower at a Des Moines apartment complex.  Three teens were struck by Sharkey’s bullets, causing serious injuries to each.  All three survived.  As noted in the government’s sentencing memorandum, “[h]is motive, that a rival gang member happened to be in that crowd, was unconscionable.”

Following the shooting, Sharkey, a convicted felon, recruited an individual to illegally purchase him multiple firearms from various gun stores in the Des Moines area.  One of those firearms was recovered by law enforcement on November 2, 2022, during a search warrant at Sharkey’s Des Moines residence.  During that search warrant, Sharkey ran from police with this loaded firearm, which he had converted to a machinegun with an auto-switch.  Sharkey was captured by an ATF K-9.

Twenty-four months of his sentence resulted from the revocation of his federal supervised release. Sharkey was serving a term of federal supervised release at the time he committed these crimes.  He had been released from federal prison on February 17, 2022, after serving a 60-month sentence for felon in possession of a firearm.

After completing his term of imprisonment, Sharkey will be required to serve three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

“The Des Moines Police have enjoyed a long-standing working relationship with the ATF, FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office,” stated Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert. “This partnership continues to pay dividends in our community, whereas violent criminals are held accountable for their actions. The collective efforts in this particular case are certainly impressive, and we vow to continue pooling our resources in a relentless pursuit of those individuals who compromise the safety our of citizens through gun violence.”

“The ATF has no greater mission than keeping firearms out of the hands of violent criminals. This case not only demonstrates the lengths to which criminals will go to acquire firearms, but more importantly, ATF’s expertise and commitment to investigating such violations of federal law,” said Bernard Hansen, Special Agent in Charge, Kansas City Field Division, ATF. “With our law enforcement partners and the United States Attorney’s Office, we will continue to work tirelessly to bring those who disregard the safety of our communities to justice.”

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement.  Assistant United States Attorneys Kristin M. Herrera and Adam J. Kerndt prosecuted the case This case was investigated by the Des Moines Police Department – Intelligence Division; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF); and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.  Des Moines Police Detective/ATF Task Force Officer Brian Minnehan was the lead agent in the investigation.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. PSN, an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime, is the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

(Radio Iowa) – The high temperatures in the upper 50s and 60s are about to go away. National Weather Service Meteorologist, Rod Donovan, says Thursday will be the last day. “We’re going to have highs across the state generally in the 50s to low 60s. So that again will be near to even above record highs across a good portion of the area,” Donovan says. He says the change will blow in by the weekend.

“We do have a cold front moving through and so we will be seeing those temperatures drop off by Friday and especially into the weekend where we’re going to see highs more into the 30s and 40s,” he says. We could see some more precipitation as well. “Can be some showers as mentioned even a few thunderstorms especially across eastern parts of the state as that moves across,” Donovan says. The forecast says we won’t see the 60s next week, but Donovan says temps will still be well above average.

“We’re going to be highs generally in the 40s. Average high temperatures fill this time of year still in the upper 20s across northern Iowa and so low to mid 30s elsewhere. So, even though we’re dropping off, we’re still looking at temperatures five even ten degrees above normal,” he says. Donovan says most of the snow has melted away and that helps things stay warmer during the day.

(Radio Iowa) – A proposal under review in the Iowa legislature would let homeowners associations that govern property surrounding public lakes set speed limits and other rules for boating and other activities on the water. Last fall, a district court ruled the Sun Valley Lake Association had no authority to enforce boating rules on the southwest Iowa lake. That ruling has created problems for Lake Panorama near Panora.

John Rutledge is general manager of the Lake Panorama Association. He says homeowners who use the lake have agreed to limits on boat sizes and how many boats can be on the lake at once. Speed limits are also enforced, so boats don’t create a wake that would rock or swamp other boats nearby. “We have nothing that we believe is frivolous or overreaching,” he says. “It’s all in cooperation with (the Iowa Department of Natural Resources) and we believe we’ve demonstrated that over the last 50 years.”

Ducks Unlimited, the Sierra Club and the Iowa Conservation Alliance that represents hunting and fishing organizations argue the state should regulate activities on all public lakes. Small private vessels can access Lake Panorama from a dock upstream, but Rutledge says 99-point-nine percent of the boats on the lake are owned by Lake Panorama homeowners.

“It’s not our intent to overreach,” Rutledge says. “It’s our intent only to regulate our own members for safety.” A bill on the subject has cleared initial review in the Iowa House AND Senate and a senator who’s working on the bill says the primary goal is to ensure safe boating on Lake Panorama.

Lake Delhi in eastern Iowa is a private lake, but the Iowa Department of Natural Resources enforces boating rules on the lake.

(Radio Iowa) – Who better than a dentist to recommend food you can really sink your teeth into? A University of Iowa pediatric dentistry professor has compiled a cookbook that includes family recipes dating back more than a century and 100-percent of the proceeds go to an Iowa charity. Dr. Michael Kanellis says his book, “Iowa Mike’s Family Recipes,” contains 247 pages of tasty kitchen concoctions that cover a range of cuisines and cultures.

“I did this kind of as a project for myself during the pandemic, to try to round up all the recipes that we use on a weekly or monthly basis and self-publish it into a single cookbook,” Kanellis says, “and then one of the third-year dental students at the college thought it might be a good idea to have a fundraiser.”

During just two recent noon-time sales on the Iowa City campus, Kanellis says the cookbook has already raised more than $1,400. All the proceeds from the sale go to a fund at the College of Dentistry to help pay for dental care for kids that don’t have dental insurance,” he says, “or who maximize their benefits and still have more treatment needs.”

His family has a long history with food, as Kanellis’ uncle opened a restaurant, The Majestic Lunch, in Cedar Rapids in 1916. He’s revised and added to the original cookbook, combining recipes he’s accumulated over decades in three-ring binders, recipe boxes and hard drives. It includes Greek, Mexican and Midwestern comfort foods.

“I never liked pork chops until I came across a recipe for baked pork chops that is just amazing and now we eat that a lot, which I’m surprised, so you know it’s good if you don’t like it to start with and then you love it when you taste it,” Kanellis says. “There’s some pasta recipes in there that are incredible. There’s a lot of appetizers, too.”

You can order the book on Amazon, but if you do, Kanellis says it’ll cost more and it won’t benefit the UI’s Pediatric Smiles Fund. Instead, he urges people to contact him directly at: michael-kanellis@uiowa.edu to order the cookbook for $20.

DES MOINES – Gov. Kim Reynolds has issued an extension of a proclamation that authorizes the use and deployment of all available state resources, supplies, equipment, and materials to continue to assist Dallas County and the Perry Community in their response to and recovery from the tragic January 4th shooting at Perry High School. The proclamation extension is effective immediately and continues through March 6, 2024. 

The Department of Public Safety, the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other state agencies have been supporting the community since the shooting on January 4th. The proclamation activates the emergency authorities of all state agencies, prompts enhanced coordination processes at the State Emergency Operations Center, and removes any administrative barriers to providing state resources and assistance in the days and weeks ahead.  

You can view the full proclamation here. 

(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Court of Appeals denies the appeal of a woman convicted of murder in Marion County. Michelle Boat was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing Tracy Mondabough to death as Mondabough sat in a truck outside her Pella home in May of 2020. Mondabough was seeing Boat’s estranged husband.

Boat’s appeal said she should have been allowed to remove a juror who had been a witness at the murder trial of the woman’s ex-husband. The Appeals Court ruling says the juror genuinely said she had no fixed opinion on the merits of the case and she could be impartial.

The ruling also denied Boat’s claim that improper instructions were given to the jury.

The Iowa Judicial Building. (RI photo)

Here’s the ruling: StatevBoat PDF

Des Moines – The State of Iowa entered into a settlement with TradeStation Crypto, Inc. (TradeStation) to resolve a multi-state securities investigation into TradeStation’s crypto interest-earning program. “Whatever Iowans may be looking to invest in, it’s always important for them to be vigilant and protect their assets,” Commissioner Doug Ommen said. “Iowans can always double-check before investing to make sure an investment is properly registered with the Iowa Insurance Division by calling 877-955-1212.”

TradeStation, a Florida corporation formed in 2018, provides crypto-asset-related financial services to retail and institutional customers in the United States, including investing and trading services. From approximately August 2020 until June 2022, TradeStation offered a crypto interest-earning program to Iowa investors. Under this program, investors passively earned interest on crypto assets by loaning them to TradeStation. TradeStation maintained total discretion over the revenue-generating activities utilized to earn returns for investors. The company offered and promoted their crypto interest-earning program in Iowa and the United States at large via its website and various platforms.

The $1.5 million multistate settlement, on behalf of 51 United States jurisdictions, is the result of a North American Securities Administrators Association task force of eight state securities regulators from Alabama, California, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Washington, and Wisconsin. The task force determined that during the offering period, TradeStation engaged in the unregistered offer and sale of securities via its crypto interest-earning program.

(Clarinda, Iowa) – The Page County Sheriff’s Office today (Feb. 7th), issued a report on arrests made & citations issued, from January 29th through Feb. 2nd:

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Atlantic SplashPad Fundraising Committee Co-Chair Jeremy Butler, today (Wednesday), issued a statement to the media with regard to the February 6th, 2024 Atlantic City Council meeting, during which there was considerable discussion, followed by a social media backlash against City leaders, for their perceived role in delaying the project.

Butler said, “The minutes that were read from the April 5th, 2023 were correct but comments that were made were not put into context. Before that meeting the fundraising had not been kicked off. The “fiasco” that Councilman Brink was referring to was the fact that my committee had been trying to start fundraising since the fall of 2022. We were running into road blocks at every turn and that night the council made a unanimous decision to let us go and raise the money. The committee has never wavered from their primary focus which was getting the Splash Pad completed. It has been one of the things at the top of the community’s wish list for several years.

“I want to go on record saying that we have an amazing City Council that has supported this project from the beginning. They have had questions and concerns that have always been discussed and worked through with give and take from both sides. They would not be doing their jobs if they were not only looking out for the citizens of Atlantic but also being good stewards of the tax dollars that they are entrusted with. Our City Administrator has also done a very good job in supplying them with information on any impact maintenance on the splash pad could have on future budgets as well as where the funds could come from for their contribution to the initial build. This has allowed the Council to make informed decisions.

“Lastly I would like to thank SWIPCO. John McCurdy and his staff have been amazing. They were doing what they were told by the “City of Atlantic” They are now working tirelessly to put a large grant together in 10 days that should have been worked on for several months. They could have very easily and understandably said no but instead decided to buckle down and get this done.

In closing I would like to thank concerned citizens that have reached out or commented on social media. I however ask that we do not start a mob mentality. We are part of an amazing community and I urge each of you to be a part of the change that you would like to see happen. There are so many committees that need volunteers and this project proves that volunteers can get things done. Please feel free to reach out if you have a passion and I will be happy to get you connected with the right people.”

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Mills County Sheriff’s Office says two men were arrested on drug charges Monday evening, in Malvern. 18-year-old Nicholas William Kerbo, and 22-year-old Matthew Dakota Kerbo, both of Malvern, were arrested at around 7:50-p.m.  They were charged with Drug Distribution Violation, Gathering Controlled Substance Used, and Attempt to Entice Minor. Bond for both men was set at $25,000, each.

And, at around 4:55-p.m., Tuesday, Mills County Deputies arrested 24-year-old Faith Leeann Clemmons, of Emerson, on a warrant for Violation of Probation. She was taken into custody at the Pottawattamie County Jail and transported to the Mills County Jail, where Clemmons’ bond was set at $10,000.