Mason City felon on probation for gun crime accused of drunk driving on wrong side of road

MASON CITY – This Mason City convicted crack dealer and abuser who keeps tempting American justice  – but seems to have it made due to a lenient local judge – was spotted driving on the wrong side of a road, allegedly drunk.  However, he has drawn Judge Karen Salic once again, and he just might avoid prison one more time.

After 4 AM, back on September 4, 2022, Mason City police officers responded to a report of gunfire in the area of the 900 block of North Washington Avenue. Officers found a male victim in the 100 block of 10th Street N.W. suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The investigation led to a search warrant being served at a residence in the 900 block of N. Washington, and a handgun was recovered during the search warrant. Officers arrested Reggie Isiah Williams during the search warrant on a charge of possessing a firearm by a felon, a class D felony. In March of 2023, Williams copped a plea, and despite a worthy criminal past, Judge Karen Salic sentenced Williams to a suspended 5-year prison sentence, a suspended fine, three years of probation, and $368.00 of court costs.

On August 11, 2024, Mason City police caught Williams driving, as a barred driver.  This is an aggravated misdemeanor.  The next month, Judge Salic sentenced Williams to 14 days in jail and a suspended fine, and $100 of court costs. It appears that local authorities then attempted to revoke his probation from the 2022 gun crime, but the proceedings have been bogged down in court hearings.

Then, on April 6, 2024, Williams was nabbed by the Iowa State Patrol driving the wrong way on a road here in Cerro Gordo county. He was arrested and charged with driving the wrong way, driving while barred and first-offense operating while intoxicated. He was booked into the Cerro Gordo county jail that morning at 2:42 AM and released that same day. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in court on April 25.

On April 7, the Iowa Department of Corrections filed a probation violation report against Williams, and on April 9, a Cerro Gordo county attorney filed for probation revocation. Judge Karen Salic then issued a warrant for Williams’ arrest that same day, and scheduled a hearing on his probation status for June 24.  Williams (pictured at top from his recent arrest) does not appear in the Cerro Gordo county jail at this time, which means he is apparently walking free and wanted on the warrant.

NIT readers will recall our report years back, when Williams was nabbed by police in March of 2013 along with a long list of other alleged drug offenders in a roundup.

NIT also previously reported that Williams is a convicted crack cocaine dealer who has been causing trouble in the Mason city area for years, and dealing with Judge Salic for just about as long.  In 2018, NIT informed the community that back in February of 2018, Williams was arrested in Mason City on charges of felony domestic abuse assault involving strangulation and obstruction of emergency communications.  However, Judge Salic gave Willaims a break and in a plea deal, he was guilty of only second-offense domestic abuse assault.  She sentenced him to 30 days in jail and ordered him to pay Iowa courts $1,316.93. Records show he has yet to pay a dime on that balance.