MASON CITY – A Mason City man who fled the scene of a domestic incident and left a frightened victim with a slashed tire behind says he’s not guilty and now awaits trial.
A call for help to Mason City police was made just after 4 PM Thursday, May 5, 2016. The caller stated that a man had just left her house and had slashed a tire on her car. She also told dispatch the man had held a knife to her throat the night before. Police were told the alleged culprit, 29-year-old Jay Teepe, was headed north away from the scene with a knife and were warned that he sometimes carries one.
Immediately, police officers headed to the area and within a couple of minutes, located and stopped Teepe near 6th Pl. SE and Georgia Avenue. He sat down in the grass while police searched for a knife that he may have discarded once he left the alleged victim’s home, nearby at 203 8th Street SE. An officer took a statement there and inspected a slashed tire on a vehicle parked in the driveway. He then walked Teepe’s possible route, between the house and where he was stopped, searching for a knife.
However, it did not appear that police located a knife. After the investigation and speaking with Mr. Teepe, he was cited for fifth-degree criminal mischief and released. He walked away from the scene on foot. About a block away, he told NIT that “we had an argument, then she got a flat tire, so I left.”
Teepe has been given a public defender. He has entered a not-guilty plea and now awaits a July 20 non-jury trial.
Teepe – guilty at least twice previously of harassment – appears to be on probation in connection to a felony drug charge from back in 2011 that he took a plea deal in to a lesser charge. He was placed on 3 years of probation back on May 17, 2013 for violating his probation in that drug case. The original charge was brought by Mason City police for attempting to deliver marijuana. He could face repercussions in that case due to this criminal mischief charge.
