NORTHWOOD, IOWA – Worth county sheriff Jay Langenbau is being challenged in the upcoming election by what sources call his top deputy – Dan Fank, who has declared his candidacy – and the race has already turned ugly.
Dan Fank says he has “proudly served the citizens of Worth County for 16 years” and serves a supervisory role in the Worth county sheriff’s office under current sheriff Jay Langenbau.
Fank recently launched a Facebook page and asked Worth county voters for “support in my pursuit to become your Worth County Sheriff” in an election to be held later this year.
As this election begins to unfold, NIT is told Langenbau has every intention of running for re-election and is none-too-thrilled with Fank’s candidacy – and may be seeking some kind of retribution against deputy Fank.
According to a source from Worth county, deputy Dan Fank is Jay Langenbau’s “right hand man”.
“I put this in quotes because Jay has stated to other worth county residents/officials that he ‘has to demote Dan because what would it look like if his right hand man was running against him’.”
In fact, the source says “Dan Fank was demoted by Jay. His supervisor position was taken away from him and his shift was changed to overnights.” Allegedly, this behavior manifested once deputy Fank told Langenbau he intended to run for his seat as sheriff.
Our source says Fank was warned by Langenbau there would be a consequence if he did not reconsider running for sheriff – one of which would be demotion. That demotion was handed down, but allegedly would be recinded if deputy Fank scrapped his pursuit for sheriff, which Fank apparently will not do. NIT is told there are communications that support this claim.
NIT asked the Fank campaign for a comment on this matter. They responded by saying “Our committee has no comment. Mr. Fank is dedicated to Worth County and its residents and wishes to run his campaign without muddying the waters.”
NIT Publisher Matt Marquardt also reached out to sheriff Langenbau and carbon-copied Worth county supervisor Merlin Bartz, asking about the alleged drama in the Worth county sheriff’s office:
“We received the following note from a Worth county resident regarding the candidacy of Dan Fank for sheriff, and wanted to ask you for a reaction to this. Has there been a demotion of deputy Fank since his announcement that he is running for sheriff? Have you had discussion(s) with Mr. Fank regarding the election for sheriff?”
Sheriff Langenbau did not immediately offer any response.
Supervisor Bartz responded with “Good work”.
NIT has another source at the Worth county courthouse that says several things.
One being that Jay Langenbau has made a point to tell employees not to give any information to NorthIowaToday.com and has in fact somehow tried to ban the reading of this news site at the courthouse. This excellent source also revealed that the sheriff works far less than 40 hours per week. Furthermore, the source says the sheriff has taken expensive trips paid for by the county for what he calls training. NIT has so far not attempted to request records and text messages sent on county devices from Worth county to ascertain the veracity of these claims.
He isn’t! He may have done a couple things that would be frowned upon but that’s it. Mr fank says he wants to run a clean race yet he starts out with lies and allogations in both your nit article and on caucuses. night .he can only tell the truth if it makes something for him looks good and gets him some place. He absolutely mastered the art of blowing smoke up someone’s ass and I guarantee that’s all it is is blowing smoke but you can choose not to believe it. Their may be bits and pieces of the story that are trur and correct but that’s it. Just bits and pieces of thruth
The rest are downright lies to make people believe he is the right man and he is not. He says he wants to run a clean race yet he is the first to throw out all the stones.
Did you read the article? I don’t see anywhere that it shows anything regarding Dan saying a thing. This is all coming from the other personal that work around the County. So when you write such an ignorant ill conceived post, you might want to at least get your facts correct. Because I am telling you right now there is not a single person employed by the Sheriff’s office that does not support Dan.
In what way is the current sheriff crooked?
NIT = gossip mongers . “Sources” lol. who would that be? The “church lady” or the “local boozer”? Why does NIT write like it’s all a given to be true and why write this trashy story anyway? I’m fairly certain all of WCounty would know what’s actually going on in their little towns..der… Why not make it about competition and the strengths of each candidate instead of some juicy bit of worthless gossip. pathetic rag…but then with a couple hundred other gossip mongers paying monthly to read this crap . go figure. smh.
You obviously read this rather long “worthless gossip” then take the time to write a lengthy response including the word “der”… Really?? Not everyone will agree with or believe what was reported… Who cares!! I think the whole point to this story is being overlooked. It’s about a man who has been doing his job for several years, without issues, then when (or around the time) it’s made public that he’s running against his boss he gets demoted. Don’t lose sight of what is really trying to be said here. I’m sure who ever contacted NIT was doing it with the best of intentions. Dan you have my support as well as my friends and family’s.
dont know either of them but if a sheriff “is” doing what is said, he shouldn’t be sheriff
Here we go again. Hope Jay can finally be replaced. All I’ve ever heard about him is negative. Good luck Worth County.
You people in Worth County have no idea what a
Self centered person Fank is. He is only out for one
Person and that is himself.
I love how people are afraid to leave their name, if your going to comment have balls enough to own it! I personally have not had a negative encounters with any member of the worth country sheriff’s office. But with anyone in a possion of power almost all will at some point use that power in thier favor, it’s just to what extent they use it. Some are more honest than others. All the encounters I have had Dan has never been anything but respectful. He has my vote 🙂
At the proper time, information linking Langenbau to certain improprieties will be made public.
I see a law suit pending.
“NIT has so far not attempted to request records and text messages sent on county devices from Worth county to ascertain the veracity of these claims.” Translation: Matt has made no attempt to substantiate any of this. His own words and a clever disclaimer.
True, but the sources brought the information forward in the first place. Are they fabricating this tale out of thin air?
For all of you with anonymous comments…if you aren’t man/woman enough to identify yourself when you speak out, you don’t feel confident in what you say. So just save your breath and perhaps your vote!
I say remove the whole sheriffs dept.and start fresh! In other words bye Jay and hello Dan. Way too many untrained,ego manics running and working in the present dept. Not impressed. Shameful for the people of Worth Co.
Worth county needs a change. Honesty and integrity is hard to find. Dan is a great candidate for Sheriff. He is honest, trustworthy, and very dedicated to making this a better county. He has my support 100%. Dan Fank obviously just wants to keep it clean and do the best he can, if he didn’t he ample opportunity to talk crap! That shows me and many other residents that he’s the man for the job. Keep up the great job Dan.
Go fank you da man
Wow, sounds like the source you have is very one sided. Mr Fank is not the saint you all think he is. He is out for one person! Himself! He played both David Gentz and Jay Langenbau to ensure his safety no matter who won. Seems the karma bus is finally taking Mr Fank for a ride to karma town USA.
We have received a response from sheriff Langenbau and will be reporting that. His silence up until now is his business; our phones and email accounts are ALWAYS open.
Sounds like a bunch of drama to me.
Definition of Drama: “an emotional and unexpected series of events or set of circumstances” So if something is meant to be covered up because it was wrong to do…then is brought to light…is that drama??? I call it truth.
Some coffee house gossip can sure get twisted around. Don’t jump to any conclusions right now.
All due respect, these sources are not from a coffee house.
All due respect, when you don’t identify a single source in the article the credibility of those sources can become suspect.
A good deputy of 16 years gets demoted JUST after announcing he’s running for Sheriff (fact, public record) maybe, just maybe, those sources are worried about their jobs. Just a thought.
I’m quite confident in my sources for this story, thank you.
Dan Fank has been a very good & honest deputy of Worth county for much longer than Jay was here! He has our best interest at heart & will do the best for us! You go Dan, I will be voting for you!
Dan fank will win!!!! Honest as they come!! the only ones that are crying are the people with records in Worth County.
These investigative stories are why I love NIT. From what I hear, I like Dan Frank. He’s the right hand man of the boss and thinks he could do a better job. If Dan can do it better, let him! The Sheriff trying to block NIT from the courthouse is appalling. That’s something Hitler would do.
Politics is a dirty lying game and to the winners goes the money power and graft.
I live in Worthless county and Merlin Bartz is bought and paid for by the elite establishment (top of the hill- windmills -etc. I would’nt trust him as far as I could throw that sack of politics- then again his partner Walk over there is another example of government goes wild for your hard earned dollar to give away to the elite.
Facts. Facts. Facts, not gossip.
The story has plenty of facts. A candidacy (actually, two). A demotion. A founded relationship that is on the rocks. Words spoken from a sheriff directly to sources who then brought it straight to NIT. This is how news is reported. Now, more facts are being brought to light as a result of this story. Stories are always developing; rarely is a story reported AFTER everything in the arc of that story takes place. We bring forward what we have when we feel the time is appropriate.
It has been well known for years that the sheriff in Worth County is crooked. What else should thy expect when they elected him.
Sure…….. let employees of all North Iowa counties read this rag on duty while we the tax payers foot the bill.
Sheriff Jay if you cant take the heat get out of the kitchen. o