Kyle Boleyn

A man has been arrested in connection with an anhydrous ammonia incident in northeast Iowa that sent a sheriff’s deputy to the hospital last week.

 Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher says the female deputy was overcome by vapors coming from a broken tank at the Fredricksburg Farmers Co-op near Hawkeye.

She was attempting to arrest a man suspected of tampering with the tank. Thirty-six-year-old Kyle Boleyn of Arlington was arrested in the case on Sunday.

“He has been charged with criminal mischief in the second degree,” Fisher said. Boleyn is also charged with possession of anhydrous ammonia with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine. Fisher said Boleyn was identified as the suspect by both a witness and from evidence gathered at the scene.

“My deputy did see (Boleyn) and a motorist who was passing by at the time got a good look at the suspect,” Fisher said. The deputy, who has not been identified, was treated at a local hospital for exposure to the liquefied gas. She has since returned to duty.

Fisher said the investigation also revealed Boleyn, a registered sex offender, was not at his place of registry for over two weeks – so he’s facing another felony charge. If convicted of all charges, Boleyn could face up to 15 years in prison.

The Interim Director of the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy says heroin use in Iowa is at its highest rate in decades. Dale Woolery says eastern Iowa’s Cedar Valley Corridor has seen a recent rash of overdose deaths. Woolery says heroin still isn’t a prevalent drug in the state.

Data from substance abuse treatment centers, shows that heroin users make up less than 1% of patients. “And while it appears to be a relatively small number, that’s as high as it’s been in 20 years, so, I think we are seeing a trend we don’t want to see, but it’s relatively small compared to some of the other substances,” according to Woolery.

Woolery says there seems to be an increase in the country’s heroin supply coming from Mexico. Eastern Iowa’s heroin seems to be coming, primarily, through Chicago. Woolery made his comments on the Iowa Public Radio program “The Exchange.”

A central Iowa man is facing charges in Nebraska after he was pulled over twice in just over two weeks and was found to be in possession of several pounds of marijuana on both occasions. Deb Collins, Public Information Coordinator for the Nebraska State Patrol, says 33-year-old Kevin D. Jones was booked in the Seward County Jail this past Sunday.

 A trooper stopped Jones’ Jeep for “following too close” on Interstate 80. “The trooper smelled an odor of marijuana and a probable cause search led to the seizure of 28.7 pounds of marijuana and some hashish,” Collins said. Jones, of Windsor Heights, Iowa, was jailed on a charge of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver.

The run-in with law enforcement followed another incident on December 31 when Jones was pulled over on I-80 near Kearney, Nebraska.

“During that stop, he was stopped for speeding,” Collins said. “He gave the trooper consent to search and the vehicle he was driving then contained 35 pounds of marijuana.”

Jones spent New Year’s Eve in the Buffalo County (Nebraska) Detention Center. Collins said troopers were a bit surprised to run into Jones again this past weekend. “You wouldn’t think that someone who had just been lodged into jail for this type of charge would turn around and attempt to do it again, but it appears he may have,” Collins said.

Several pharmacies in northeast Iowa were burglarized this weekend. It started with Manchester Police investigating a burglary at Widner Drug, which happened around 4:30 Sunday morning.

Police Chief Bruce Trapp says officers and Delaware County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a burglary alarm and arrived at Widner’s to find the front door broken into. The suspects had already fled the scene.

They had taken an undisclosed amount of pills containing pseudophedrine, which is commonly used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine. Police say two other pharmacies in Strawberry Point and Oelwein were also burglarized Sunday morning. Police are analyzing evidence and continuing to investigate.

Trapp is asking the public for their help in finding the burglars. If you saw anyone or any vehicles in the Widner Drug store area around 4:30 Sunday morning, or if you saw a vehicle headed westbound on old Highway 20 between Manchester and the Buchanan County line near Highway 187 around the same time, contact Manchester Police.

By Janelle Tucker, KMCH Manchester

Authorities in southwest Iowa are now releasing details of a drug bust on Sunday afternoon. Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says Deputy Brian Miller stopped a car for speeding on Interstate 80 near Council Bluffs and he became suspicious about the two men in the car.

They refused to let him search the car but did allow Miller’s canine partner, Francisco, to do a perimeter search. The dog reacted to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle which provided reasonable suspicion and probable cause for Miller to search the vehicle.

During the search, the deputy discovered two garbage bags full of packaged marijuana. Combined, they weighed about 45 pounds. Both men were arrested on drug charges: the driver, 43-year-old Tou Thao of Eureka, California, and his passenger, 32-year-old Doua Thao, of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Both men were being held in the Pottawattamie County Jail on $100,000 bond each.

By Ric Hanson, KJAN, Atlantic

A 19-year-old Newton man is now the second person to be charged in connection with the death of 19-year-old Shasta Sapp of Mingo. The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department investigation into Sapp’s November 12th death concluded Tuesday with the arrest of Wyatt Andrew Franklin.

Franklin is charged with delivery of a controlled substance and violation of his probation from a previous drug conviction. He’s being held in the Jasper County jail without bond. Franklin is accused of supplying the oxymorphone that Sapp took prior to her death.

According to the county medical examiner, the level of the drug in her system contributed to the death. Alcohol was also found in her system. Twenty-one-year-old Jason Bissell of Colfax allegedly supplied the alcohol to Sapp and Bissell has been charged with supplying alcohol to a minor. He is free on his own recognizance.

Sapp was found unresponsive at a residence just west of Colfax. She was pronounced dead after being taken to Skiff Medical Center in Newton.

By Randy Van, KCOB, Newton