MASON CITY – A 13 year-old girl was in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on drug charges Wednesday. Her photo and charges were publicly displayed on the Cerro Gordo County website.
Takota Jo Weitzel was arrested by the Mason City police department on October 18th, 2012 at about 1 PM at the middle school / high school complex located at 1701 4th st SE after a report of drugs was taken by police.
When asked for information about a minor being in jail, with a photo and charges publicly visible, Sheriff Kevin Pals said Wednesday that this was an “MCPD arrest, contact them.” He then said “She was booked and released from our jail right away.”
Mason City police could offer no additional information on the teen’s arrest Wednesday but said they would later.
The Mason City School District said, via MCHS Principal TJ Jumper, that “The situation that you are asking about was referred to the Mason City Police Department for further investigation. From the school district’s perspective, this is a confidential matter and we can not offer any further comment. As a district, we work to offer a safe and orderly learning environment for all students and staff.”
More information when it becomes available.
SUBJECT IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
I know her! Her grandma really did try. I am so upset. She knew me because I swam with her and my mom was the coach. She is an amazing girl but she made a mistake(Who doesn’t?) I moved away so now I don’t really know how she is.
i have know her my whole life and ever since i was little she has always lived with her garandma because her mom was in and out of jail. Her grandma really did try to change her and teach her not to do the stuff she was doing and really did try to help her,but if you didnt know her mom got her on monday and 3 days later she got arrested..thats saying somthing! so before you go talking shit anout her grandma know the whole story or keep your mouth quiet!
I use to babysit this girl the sad thing is; is that I seen this coming..but not this young. I feel so bad for her grandmother she was taking care of her while her mother was getting the help she needed. I just hope Mason City, and the schools see what kids are really doing these days. I hope she wakes up an sees this isn’t the life she wants to live starting out this young! Wake up soon Takota.
I am appalled at the display of comments on this site. Making comments about a 13 year old girl and her family anonymously because you can. Attempting to correlate the actions of the MCPD and an arrest to this event and that event. Citing this or that to be legal or illegal.
Ignoranance! Extreme ignorance in the safety of your online worlds. Just filth, disgust and hatred spouted off by illiterate and uneducate people because you can make a statement of “fact” anonymously.
13 year olds don’t do drugs and fight in school because life is just peachy. Troubled kids become troubled from many factors and influences. If want to make a change do so in a positve way that might help this child, legal child, or antoher instead of perpetuating hate and the ‘facts’ you don’t really know to be true.
This is not journalism, it is a piece of trash and the internet is the only reason why it has any form of communication or publishing.
So done with stupidity.
Why do u blame it on the mom??? Come on…I heard that Dottie cleaned up her act years ago!! Shes not a bad parent that doesnt give a damn about her teenage daughter! For Gods sake! Leave the family alone!! Go pick on someone else!
Her mom, Dottie Roberts, was just convicted of illegal possession of prescription pill two months ago. Try again.
She was in my class two years ago. She thought she was a princess. I’m laughing now. She’d make fun of us and some friends.
So so sad for this precious little girl. She need guidance and love not a jail sell!! Wake up society and do right thing!!
Whats a jail ‘sell’ u moron
Why would you criticize someone’s spelling when you can’t use proper punctuation? And name calling is never okay.
No, she doesn’t need guidance, or anything. She deserves this for getting multiple fights this year, and getting caught with drugs. She not only sells drugs, but she was also getting high in our school bathroom, she has a caring, loving grandma that tries to help but yet she treats her like shit, so no your comment is completely wrong.
Does this surprise anybody that Dottie Roberts kid got arrested for the same thing as her mom?
I know this girl and to be honest it doesnt suprise me at all.
Her mom probably gave it to her! Thats the kind of person she is!!!!!!
Ohm okay I’ve never smoke it I was holding for a frien I never sold it and my mom has nothin to do with anything! All you can go an get a life besides sit her and commenting on this cause your all pathetic worseless people
Citizens deserve to know this kind of information. The school district has no right to keep this stuff quiet when our kids safety is at risk. Parents have every right to know whats going on in our schools and to ask questions of school personnal on these matters. Lets not cover things up get them out in the open so we can make informed decisions.
I agree, we have a right to know. This girl has been to my house, hung out with my daughter. I had no idea and neither did my daughter that she was into drugs. Parents have a right to know so we can keep our children away from these kind of kids.
wake the F up….mom “birds of a feather…
Poor girl. I’m sure it’s just a case of her getting caught in the wrong crowd.
Alleged juvenile delinquents should not be arrested and booked into jail. We have a separate justice system for them. Just another casualty in the trillion dollar drug war.
Where do you take them to book them? Do we have a Juvy Hall here? I’m sure she was not put in with hardened criminals, if she was actually put in a cell at all.
The only good reason to legalize drugs is that it would put the cartels out of business. They are probably spending a lot of money trying to keep drugs illegal. But if we legalize drugs, what do we do with all the addicts it creates? Who is going to support them? They will never be able to support themselves. Meth addicts self-destruct in a matter of years. Rehab for them is pretty much useless. Their medical care would cost trillions a year. I guess their drugs would be cheap enough that they wouldn’t be stealing from us to feed their habits. They wouldn’t need food because they rarely eat. No dental care because their teeth all fall out. Hmmm. Shelter. The prisons would have more room because there wouldn’t be any more drug dealers or offenders in them………… And we wouldn’t need to staff them with guards any more. Just pharmacists to pass out the drugs.
Her parents could have been contacted. Put her in detention in school until they pick her up. I’m not saying she deserved to be transported to the detention center in Waterloo. I just don’t think that booking a 13 year-old for simple possession is what scciety needs to do. Adults are simply cited and released for misdemeanor drug possession all the time.
As a matter of fact, legalizing some drugs would seriously damage the cartel business which should be a top priority of our government. But, legalizing every drug would be disastrous. The money made through taxation on the sale of a ‘drug’, marijuana, for example, could be targeted for medical care for those who are addicted to the lethal drugs such as meth, crack cocaine and heroin. The ‘trillions of dollars’ you mention is probably way off base but a tax on the grower, seller and buyer would offset the cost. The lessening of prison sentences for some drug users WOULD free up space in our already over-crowded prisons which would lower the number of deferred and suspended sentences now handed down by judges. And, yes, there would be less crime.
@Ghost: How do you know it was simple possession? I can’t find a record of the crime. She isn’t on MugShots. And how are the cops supposed to book someone at a school? Taking a mug shot and fingerprinting the criminal just might make an impression on the kid that she’s done something wrong. Just sitting in detention at school until a parent shows up wouldn’t make much of an impression. If it were my kid, I would insist on the cops putting the fear of dog in her. I know a parent who was called by the police when his kid got caught shoplifting and the parent told them to book him and keep him in jail for the day. The cops said they couldn’t because they couldn’t keep juveniles. He took his sweet time going to pick him up. It’s a good thing some juvenile records are sealed. You wouldn’t believe the job that “kid” has now. LOL He definitely shaped up and is one of the good guys.
I don’t know whether it was simple possession. We’ll never know because juvenile records aren’t accessible online. I am guessing. I doubt many 13 year-old middle school students possess felony quantities on school grounds. Also, it’s unlikely that she would be quickly released if there were indicia of trafficking. If that was the case, then all the more reason to transport her to a detention center.
To all the parents that believe in taking a “tough love” position with their children when faced with police custody for what is probably a first time brush with the law, wake the f**k up. Your children need you then more than ever.
A better question, has she been thrown out of school? If not, why not?
She was back at school this week and then got OSS for fighting with another girl.
Come on Pals. The Sheriff’s Department is the one that takes the booking photo and releases the information. Way to try and pass the buck.
Once again, the MCPD should have been the ones to decide whether her booking information was to go public or not. If they didn’t tell the county to withhold it on their case, the crime must have been serious enough to name the juvenile offender. Someone already said it depends on the severity of the charges as to whether or not a juvenile can be named. I don’t think you are being fair blaming the Sheriff unless you have PROOF he made the decision without input from the MCPD. He referred the matter to the MCPD because it was their case. That tells me they made the decision. They did not respond. Wait for the truth to come out before you point fingers.
Everyone is responsible for his/her own actions. As a 13 yo young adult, she should have been aware of the repercussions of what she did. And if she is innocent, well, other innocent people have had their names/pictures put up for public view before. It’s about time society stops playing nursemaid and starts playing real world.
This for sure is the right call, and should be done more often. These are NOT the juveniles of twenty years ago. Parents are not the same either. Kids today think they are exempt from the law, and become more brazen as they get older. They HAVE to know the ramifications of being a poor citizen. I think all juvenile shoplifters should be posted so business owners have an idea when they enter their premises. Very few get rehabilitated and just become more clever. Bravo MCPD.
What’s the difference. The county attorney and judges will just turn them loose anyway.
What is said is her mom, “Dottie K Roberts”, is a drug user. In and out of jail, looks like the State my have stepped in to late when the took guardianship of her away from Dottie.
Hopefully she will see the evils of drugs before she ends up like her mother.
Wonder her who parents are? If she was from a wealthy family or the “right kind of people in town” I wonder if we would have seen her face or name in the paper. I do think it is a shame they put the girls face and name in the paper. Don’t understand who gets to say who gets their name and picture in the paper when they are underage. Can anyone answer this for me? I really don’t understand why some names are mentioned when underage and some are not. I know the girl that was at the house a while back when something happened and they never did give her name out. I am glad they didn’t but here again that girl was a lot older than 13. Praying for family.
So typical of this sheriff, it wasn’t my fault blame someone else, get rid of your ego, didn’t you work for MCPDS for years, but the first to throw them under the bus!!! Just because you did very little as an officer there and left bitter. Get over it Man up take SOME responsibility.
So true!!
Which part should he take responsibility for? Arresting her? (MCPD) Transporting her to jail for booking? (MCPD) Booking and releasing her? (He said that is what they did.)
Other than trying to cause a story when there isn’t one I don’t see the problem. Saying they need to contact the people who made the arrest is not throwing someone under the bus.
MCPD doesn’t take booking photos at the county jail and they certainly don’t release booking photos they don’t take. MCPD made the arrest and transported her to the county jail. Everything after that was the county’s doing.
Then the MCPD should have said, “This is a minor and her file is closed. Don’t post her mug shot or any information about her.” !!! I’m sure there have been other juveniles arrested by the MCPD whose mug shots were not posted.
This girl made a choice. No one forced her to do drugs or have drugs on her being. She’s 13 and is very aware what is legal and illegal. She now need to face the consequences of her actions. I agree that they should go after the “big fish” in this town. But the little fish need to be accountable for their actions too.
Say it’s not true. What a shame to see it happening with a girl this young. If true they need to find out who is supplying her and throw the book at them. No way a girl this young came up with something like this on her own. I sure hope they were wrong.
WOW! Just be happy all your TEENAGE mistakes werent blasted on a “news” outlet! Pathetic!
Seriously every time NIT posts these stories about teenagers only adds stress to the situation. This is a child, respect her privacy until she is 18. I am sure kids, and parents, are now going to only add to the stress and issues this girl is already dealing with as a result of getting in trouble. Its time for adults to start thinking about the mental state of kids, and how releasing this information may only make things worse.
When a child decides to act as an adult, as is the case with the consumption of booze and possession of illegal drugs, it is no longer a kids world.
In the Criminal Justice system, there are rules and laws on how a an accused may be handled as far as the severity of the offense.
There is much about this case we do not know, and those details would probably be the deciding factor.
It is not uncommon in other area to treat young people as adult criminals when it comes to drug related activities.
The real question is, why did the parents fail this girl? They should be just as culpable.
brown chicken brown cow
According to Iowa law, if the charges do not rise above a simple misdemeanor, then the juvenile should not be photographed or fingerprinted. Drugs are generally at least a serious misdemeanor. Parphenalia is a simple.
The photo likely would have been taken at the Cerro Gordo County jail.
There seems to be a war on juveniles in north iowa in that instead of attempting to rehabilitate them, the goal is to expose and sensationalize any troubles they may have which can impede rehabilitation as the juveniles reputation is destroyed.
Instead the focus should be on whoever is bringing the drugs into this area as there has been quite an increase in the amount of young people smoking pot again. The drugs have to first get here somehow. That’s where law enforcement’s focus should be instead of parading every juvenile who has fallen prey. Tiny fish guys.
Many people go fishing with minnows.
Her mom probably gave it to her
But fishing with minnows and then showing where all the minnows are is only going to scare away the big fish.