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Office at non-profit ransacked by unknown culprit; police investigating

218 5th SW, home of North Iowa Community Action
218 5th SW, home of North Iowa Community Action

MASON CITY – An office was ransacked last week and a threatening message was left behind, putting employees of a non-profit on edge and leading to a police investigation.

Sources disclosed to NIT that there was an incident reported to police on the morning of May 4, involving an office at North Iowa Community Action Organization (NICAO), which serves a 9-county area and is dedicated to “reducing poverty in our communities”.  NICAO is located inside 218 5th Street SW in Mason City.

Police are being tight-lipped about this incident, telling NIT only that there was property damage and that no further information can be released at this time.  Interestingly, police notes indicate the incident is not classified as criminal mischief or vandalism.

However, sources are telling NIT that there is much more to the story.

A source with knowledge of the incident said that a NICAO office was “ransacked” and that files were dumped out and scattered; the source described the office as a “destructive crime scene”. Perhaps most disturbingly, the source said that someone wrote “die (expletive)” on a dry erase board and “DIE (expletive) on another wall in the office.  NIT is not releasing the name of the person who works in the office that was invaded, but one of our sources says the woman works with landlords, tenants and funding connected to low-income housing.

Furthermore, according to our source, in order to reach the office that was targeted, at least two locked doors – one of which requires a passcode – stands in the way of gaining entry. The code is allegedly only known by staff members, and there did not appear to be force used to get into the office past the locked doors.

Sources say employees in the building are “horrified,” and no one there wants the incident in the news.  At least one employee has been given time off to cope with the intrusion and has talked to others of obtaining a firearm and lessons to use it.

A call to North Iowa Community Action Organization was not answered, and a message left for Executive Director Dick Goerdt was not immediately responded to. The agency’s board of directors are persons with clout from towns throughout a nine county area, as far away as Algona and Charles City, Lake Mills and Hampton.

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