FAYETTE, IOWA – A resident at a troubled care facility in Northern Iowa was nabbed by police Thursday after she stole a cell phone and a car.
According to the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, Thursday at about 2:30 AM, deputies discovered a stolen vehicle in the ditch at W-33 and Highway 3 just north of Stanley. Upon further investigation by police, it was learned that 23-year-old Ayla Shay McFarland, a Resident at Prairie View Residential Care Facility located just north of Fayette, had walked away from the facility and stolen an employee’s vehicle while they were working. It was also discovered that McFarland had also stolen a cell phone that belonged to another resident prior to taking off from the facility.
McFarland was arrested and transported to the Fayette County Jail and charged with operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent and theft in the fifth degree for the theft of the cell phone. McFarland is currently in the Fayette County Jail awaiting her court appearance. All stolen property was later returned to the owners.
The Prairie View Residential Care Facility, which houses about 90 persons with varying degrees of mental illness who need around-the clock supervision, was in the news in 2012 after a series of crimes were reported in a relatively short amount of time. According to the Cedar Rapids Gazette, between May and September of 2012, a sexual assault against a woman was committed and three assaults took place, one in which a man was beaten to death.
SUBJECT IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY
