COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – A Council Bluffs man was sentenced April 16th to 200 months in prison on federal drug charges and a concurrent 180 months for a firearms crime.  According to public court documents, 39-year-old Jake Michael Flynn pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and prohibited person in possession of a firearm. From October 2022 through April 2023, Flynn was a member of a conspiracy which distributed more than 50 kilograms of methamphetamine in the Council Bluffs area. A stolen vehicle was also recovered that was involved in prior burglaries in the Council Bluffs area. Additionally, a Sig Sauer Model P365 9×19 millimeter handgun was found in the vehicle with Flynn’s DNA. Flynn was previously convicted of a felony and therefore prohibited from legally possessing a firearm.

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

United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa made the announcement. This case was investigated by the Southwest Iowa Narcotics Task Force, the Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and the Council Bluffs Police Department.

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 gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results. For more information about Project Safe Neighborhoods, please visit Justice.gov/PSN.

(Glenwood, Iowa) – The Glenwood Police Department reports four recent arrests. On Sunday:

20-year-old Lillian Doeppers, of Omaha, NE, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her total bond set at $1,300. Doeppers was Released on her Own Recognize (ROR) by a magistrate; and, 20-year-old Clayton Gorham, of Pacific Junction, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance. His bond set was at $1,000. He too was released on his own recognize by the magistrate.

On Saturday, Glenwood Police arrested:

43-year-old Barbara Riley, of Glenwood, for driving while barred, bond set at $2,000. Riley was ROR’d by the magistrate; and, 19-year-old Jaxx Weis, of Council Bluffs, was arrested for OWI/1st offense, with bond set at $1,000. Weis posted bond and was released.

And, last Friday, Glenwood Police arrested 41-year-old Kyle Zeigler, of Red Oak, for driving while barred, with bond set at $2,000. (ROR by the magistrate)

(Creston, Iowa) – The Creston Police Department reports four weekend arrests. At around 4:18-a.m., Saturday, 24-year-old Joseph Lee James Eblen, of Creston, was arrested on charges that include Driving while Barred, 2 counts of Violation of No Contact Order, Burglary 1st Degree-Bodily Injury, and Assault while Participating in Felony. Eblen was being held in the Union County Jail on a $32,600 cash or surety bond.

Saturday night, Creston Police arrested 38-year-old Douglas Edward Woodward III, of Clearfield, on a Polk County Warrant for Criminal Mischief in the 4th Degree-FTA (Failure to Appear) for Arraignment. Woodward was being held in the Union County Jail on a $1,000 cash-only bond, while awaiting extradition to Polk County.

Sunday evening, 71-year-old Oliver Stephen Davis, of Creston, was arrested at his residence for Reckless Use of Firearm. Davis was cited and released from the scene on Promise to Appear (in court). And, Sunday night, 46-year-old Dennis Gerald Tyler, of Creston, was arrested at the intersection of Mills and Lincoln. Tyler was charged on Public Intoxication and Interference with Official Acts. He was taken to the Union County Jail and later released on a $600 cash or surety bond.

(Atlantic, Iowa) – Representatives with “Steps of Hope,” Iowa, were in Atlantic over the weekend, to install a Naloxone distribution box outside the Atlantic Public Library, on the southwest side. The event took place Saturday. The box with free Naloxone, was made possible by funds donated by the citizens of Cass County and Steps of Hope. Officials say their goal is to have Naloxone boxes placed in Adair, Guthrie, Pottawattamie and Shelby counties. The ultimate goal is to get a box placed in every Iowa county.

Naloxone is a medication used to reverse opioid overdoses, targeting the central and respiratory systems. It works by binding to opioid receptors, blocking effects of opioids like heroin and morphine. Commonly administered via injection or nasal spray, naloxone acts quickly, essential in emergencies.

A Naloxone distribution box similar to this, is now located outside of the Atlantic Public Library.

Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition will be supplying doses to the box on a monthly basis. More information on the Naloxone boxes can be found at stepsofhopeiowa.org.

(Radio Iowa) – A Latino author from Iowa City is publishing a book of short stories about a boy who’s coming of age in a blue-collar, predominately white Midwestern town in the late 1960s. Mario Duarte, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, says the main character’s experiences are largely based on his own life, and the book is an effort to show how we’re all simultaneously different — and the same. “There’s just not enough focus on who people are in this country, for example, Mexican-Americans or other groups,” Duarte says. “One of the reasons I wrote this book is so people have an understanding of my people, the generations of who we are. I think the more they understand us, the less there’s going to be hate and prejudice.”

Duarte says his book, “My Father Called Us Monkeys: Growing Up Mexican-American in the Heartland,” is designed to be read by people of all colors and of all ages. “I think of this as a group of stories that’s written for anyone who’s preadolescent to the elderly, because it covers all of the characters in that range,” Duarte says, “but anybody faces the same circumstances of growing up. In its essence, I think the most important part of the book is about the sorrows and the joys of growing up.” In the book, Marco is an inquisitive boy who grapples to understand the adult world, telling his tales of friendships, living with white neighbors, as well as interactions and conflicts with extended family.

“This happens to be a Mexican-American family but it’s true of any family,” Duarte says. “The things you go through, the town you live in, where you live, who you meet as you go along in life, your interactions with your parents, your friends, the impact that has on who you are as a person, the lessons you learn. That’s true of anybody.” Duarte, an academic advisor at the University of Iowa, grew up in western Illinois and has lived in Iowa City for some 30 years. He says just a few years ago, he would have said Americans’ attitudes about immigrants were good, but there’s been a change.

“I don’t think I can say that with any kind of honesty. I think these are challenging times for people who are immigrants and who are perceived as immigrants,” Duarte says. “Even people like my own family might be perceived as just fresh to this country, whereas we have a very long history. I can trace my family history back to 1911 in Iowa.” He hopes the book will be something of an antidote to those misconceptions.

Duarte will be appearing at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines on Sunday. The book is being published by North Liberty-based Ice Cube Press.