Eight suspects from the Omaha-Council Bluffs area are now charged in a series of more than 50 automatic teller machine thefts in Iowa, Nebraska and five other states. Omaha Police Sergeant Meg Fricke says officers launched the investigation several years ago.  “They’ve been working on this case and this series since 2013 putting in so many hours and just hard detective work, picking up every lead and following up,” Fricke says. “In fact, we made an arrest in 2014 but that did not stop these suspects at all.”

The suspects are all from the Omaha-Council Bluffs metro area but the thefts took place across the region. She says all of the A-T-M thefts employed very similar tactics.
“They’ll use a vehicle and attach a chain and pull it right out of the building and take the ATM and remove the cash from the inside,” Fricke says. “There’s been over 50 that we’ve followed in this series.” It took a few years to catch all of the suspects but Fricke says this case should serve as an example to all thieves that the law -will- find you, eventually.

“We use a lot of video in these cases,” she says. “We’re following up with DNA, with witnesses. Everything is trackable and anything that you might use or have, we may get access to and use that to help solve our cases.” Police believe the eight suspects took around 50 ATMs from seven states: Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, South Dakota, Missouri, Oklahoma and Colorado.

The suspects range in age from 24 to 57 and are identified as: Darnell Gordon, Lyle Gordon, Wakonda Hazel, Brenis Vaughn, Kentrell Reed, Bajah Pittman and Isaiah Brown. The first suspect arrested, Larry Gordon, was charged in 2014. Additional indictments are expected.

(Radio Iowa)

The Fourth of July, for the third year in row, falls on a day that gives most Iowans a three day weekend. That’s one reason why AAA (Triple-A) spokesperson Gail Weinholzer is projecting more people than ever before will be hitting the road. “We expect more than 43 million Americans to travel at least 50 miles or more. That is the highest on record, in fact it’s 5 million more than this past Memorial Day weekend,” Weinholzer says. The biggest factor in the motor club’s prediction is gas prices.

“It’s been 11 years since we’ve had prices this low on the Fourth of July weekend,” Weinholzer says. In Iowa, the statewide average for a gallon of regular unleaded gas stands at $2.29. “That’s 43-cents below a year ago…when it was $2.72,” Weinholzer says. AAA reports, nationwide, the average motorist has saved about $100 on gasoline so far this year compared to the first six months of 2015.

(Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press at 2:40 a.m. CDT