SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — A Sioux City man has pleaded guilty in what authorities have called a human trafficking case in which a teenage Guatemalan girl was raped. The Sioux City Journal reports that 38-year-old Cristobal Francisco-Nicolas pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to a smuggling count and unlawful possession of identification documents. In exchange, a third smuggling count will be dropped.

Prosecutors say Francisco-Nicolas helped pay smuggling costs for the girl and her father to get from Guatemala to the U.S.-Mexico border and then travel to Sioux City. Francisco-Nicolas’ wife, 40-year-old Amy Francisco, pleaded guilty last week to helping her husband in the scheme.

The 17-year-old girl was found wandering Sioux City streets on June 5 and told authorities she had been repeatedly raped by Francisco-Nicolas before she escaped.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police say a man injured in a shooting near the Coe College campus in Cedar Rapids has died from those injuries. Station KCRG reports that 20-year-old Levi Hunter Allen Holten, of Cedar Rapids, died Monday from injuries he received in a shooting on Nov. 25. Police say Holten was found in an alley around 5:15 a.m. that day with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
Cedar Rapids police say an autopsy has been scheduled. No arrests in the shooting have been reported. An investigation into the shooting continues.

A man and woman from Lenox were arrested today (Tuesday) in Creston, on warrants out of Missouri. 29-year old Kristen Oliphant and 40-year old Thomas Lee Zelasko II, were taken into custody at around 12:27-a.m. at Highway 34 and Patriotic Avenue. Oliphant was wanted for Failure to Appear on an original, Felony, Possession of a Controlled Substance charge. She was being held in the Adams County Jail, while awaiting transfer to the Stone County, MO., Jail. Zelasko was wanted for Failure to Appear related to a Tampering with a Motor Vehicle charge. He was being held in the Union County Jail while awaiting transfer to Clay County, MO.

And, 44-year old Misty Daughtery, of Lenox, was arrested Monday in Creston, for Driving While Barred. She was later released on a $2,000 bond.

(Radio Iowa) — This is Giving Tuesday, a day where Iowans are encouraged to join people around the world in a generosity movement designed to unleash the power of people and organizations to transform their communities. Neal Bohnet, chief development officer for the Iowa Red Cross, says his agency is dedicated to responding to all sorts of disasters — big and small. “We responded to 650 home fires this last year in Iowa along with countless flooding issues,” Bohnet says. “Anything that we’re asked to do as the Red Cross, we’re going to be there to help.”

When needed, the agency sends trained volunteers from Iowa to trouble spots within the state, across the nation and around the planet, providing things like food, lodging, cleaning supplies and emotional support. Bohnet says, “One thing that I always tell folks is that just because a disaster didn’t make the news doesn’t make it any less devastating for those folks involved.”

During 2019, the United States has experienced ten weather and climate disasters, including extreme flooding, storms and wildfires, that cost more than one-billion dollars each. Worse, the frequency of major disasters has nearly tripled in the past five years. Giving Tuesday isn’t just about making donations of cash, as Bohnet says it can also be about giving blood. “We do have Red Cross blood drives all over the state,” Bohnet says. “It’s one of those things that we’re always in need of. The gift of blood is so important and it’s a major part of our life-saving mission at the Red Cross.”

Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past seven years, it’s grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.

https://www.givingtuesday.org/
https://www.redcross.org/

A traffic stop at around midnight Monday in Montgomery County, resulted in the arrest of Jennifer and Christopher Traeger, for Violation of a No Contact Order. The couple was transported to the Montgomery County Jail and held on $300 cash bond, each. Sheriff’s deputies were assisted at the scene by Red Oak Police.