(Red Oak, Iowa) – Police in Red Oak, Wednesday evening, arrested a woman on an assault charge. 40-year-old Shannon Elisa Lecinski, of Red Oak, was arrested in the 200 block of S. 2nd Street at around 6:52-p.m. She was charged with Domestic Abuse Assault/1st offense. Lecinski was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – A collision Wednesday evening near Council Bluffs resulted in two people fleeing the scene and their arrest three-hours later, after a manhunt. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2019 Chevy Corvette driven by 52-year-old Stephen Hakes of Erie, Colorado, was traveling in the right lane at interstate speeds on I-80 near mile marker 9.85.

A 2019 Dodge Durango, driven by 49-year-old William Burch, III, of Hernando, Florida, was traveling at excessive speed and rear-ended that Corvette.The Durango came to rest in front of the car.

When Hakes approached Burch and his passenger in the SUV, both fled the scene. Authorities say the Durango was confirmed stolen. After an extensive search for the occupants of the SUV, the passenger, 45-year-old Shyla Solar, of Hernado, FL, and Hakes, were transported to Jennie Edmundson Hospital, in Council Bluffs, with Solar being transported by Underwood Rescue, and Hakes transported by Council Bluffs Police.

The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies assisted in handling the incident.

(Decatur County, Iowa) – Two separate incidents in southern Iowa have claimed two lives. The Iowa State Patrol on Tuesday, released the name of a man who died in a UTV accident at around 6:15-p.m., Tuesday. Authorities say 46-year-old Brian C. Kitt, of Ankeny, died after the 20111 Polaris Utility Terrain Vehicle he was operating overturned when it went out of control in a hay field. Kitt was ejected and died from his injuries at the Decatur County Hospital.

The second accident happened at around 6:52-p.m. Wednesday. The State Patrol says 41-year-old Justin Andrew Miller, of Leon, was operating a front-end loader that had just retrieved a round hay bale from the east ditch of Lineville Road. The bale had fallen off a truck and trailer. When the loader the loader turned into a private drive on Lineville Road, it struck a 6-year-old child, who died at the Decatur County Hospital. The child’s name was not immediately released.

Des Moines, Iowa – A Des Moines man was sentenced today to 27 months in prison following his pleas of guilty to two counts of a federal indictment charging conspiracy to  wrongfully obtain and disclose individually identifiable health information, and wrongfully  obtaining individually identifiable health information.

According to court documents, Dustin James Ortiz, 49, conspired with a then employee of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in Des Moines to obtain individually identifiable health information of an individual which were maintained by the VAMC. The records Ortiz sought to and did obtain pertained to the victim’s mental health conditions and medications. Ortiz obtained this information without authorization required by law. Ortiz then disclosed the records to a third party. Because the conduct involved the intent to transfer and use the health information for personal gain and malicious harm, it was a felony under federal law.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal law that requires standards to protect sensitive patient health information from being disclosed without the patient’s consent or knowledge.

In addition to the 27-month term of imprisonment, the Court ordered the payment of $2,000 in restitution, and a 3-year term of supervised release to follow the prison sentence. “Our office is committed to giving real meaning to HIPAA’s right-to-privacy protections,” said United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal. “HIPAA-covered entities should continue to
remind everyone that the privacy provisions of HIPAA are important and have significant consequences if violated.”

“Unlawfully obtaining and releasing veterans’ health records will not be tolerated,” said Special Agent in Charge Gregory Billingsley with Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Central Field Office. “This breaches the integrity of the VA healthcare system and is an egregious violation of privacy.”

The co-defendant, a former employee of the VAMC, is set for sentencing on August 4, 2022. The Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General investigated the case

(Radio Iowa) – The former technology director at a private Catholic school in eastern Iowa is sentenced to more than three years in prison for stealing thousands of dollars. Fifty-year-old Todd Wessels of Dubuque pleaded guilty in November to one once of wire fraud. He admitted that when he was the technology director for the Holy Family Catholic Schools he purchased prepaid debit cards. Wessels then transferred the balances on the cards to his personal account.

He admitted he used more than 500-thousand dollars for things like food and travel expenses for himself and his family. The school district was experiencing financial difficulties and closing a number of schools as a result. Wessels was sentenced to 41 months in prison and ordered to pay more than 503-thousand dollars in restitution and nearly four-thousand dollars in the district’s legal expenses.