MASON CITY – A convicted drunk driver and paroled burglar was tooling around Mason City’s North End this weekend, until local police stopped him, battled him, and placed him back in jail so we can all be safer.
Mason City police conducted a traffic stop on March 2, 2025. At 8:38 PM that evening, officers stopped a driver at 14th Street NW and North Washington Avenue. The suspect, identified as 29-year-old parolee Jesse Keenan Rafael of Mason City, was found to be a barred driver with no proof of insurance, but in possession of drug paraphernalia. Evidently, Rafael (pictured at top) did not cooperate during the traffic stop, and was arrested on the following charges:
– DRIVING WHILE BARRED-HABITUAL
– INTERFERE WITH OFFICIAL ACTS, BODILY INJURY RESULT
– POSSESS DRUG PARAPHERNALIA
– FAILURE TO PROVIDE PROOF OF FINANCIAL
– ASSAULT ON PERSNS IN CERTN OCCUPATIONS, CAUSING INJURY
– VIOLATION OF PAROLE
Rafael was taken to the Cerro Gordo county jail and booked in at 9:08 PM that evening. He remains held on bond as he awaits a preliminary hearing set for March 14.
NIT previously reported that Rafael was sent to prison in December of 2022 for felony burglary of a Mason City residence. He was to spend up to five years behind bars, but he was paroled on October 17, 2023. In July of 2024, the Iowa State Patrol stopped Rafael while driving, and he was arrested for second-offense operating while intoxicated and possession of meth. In a guilty plea deal to those two crimes, the judge threw out a third charge of escape from custody, and Rafael was sent to jail for 15 days and ordered to pay $1,932.00 to Iowa courts. He never paid a dime on that balance, records show. His driver’s license was also suspended, and he lost the right to own a gun.