Authorities in western Iowa report an arrest has been made in connection with last year’s alcohol-related death of a Harlan teenager. Harlan Assistant Police Chief Steve Davis says 27-year-old Dustin Martin Thomas, of Crescent, was arrested Monday in Pottawattamie County.
Thomas faces a charge of supplying alcohol to persons under legal age, resulting in death. The felony offense carries with it a five-year prison sentence. Thomas was being held in the Shelby County Jail this morning on $5,000 bond. Seventeen-year-old Julio Caceres, of Harlan, died following a party in Harlan in October, 2010.
Officials say the teen’s friends found him unconscious shortly after midnight, October 9th. Caceres later died at an Omaha hospital. An autopsy determined he choked on his own vomit while intoxicated. Davis says a total of nine other persons were charged with possession of alcohol under the legal age or minor in possession.
The teens were from Walnut, Harlan, Shelby, Kirkman and Defiance.
By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic