MASON CITY — A broken window at a supposedly vacant Mason City apartment led police Thursday morning to two alleged squatters holed up inside, including a repeat theft defendant already tangled in criminal cases stretching from Mason City to Cedar Falls. Tristan Gerard Hillhouse and Emily Jo Kellogg were collared inside the apartment at 123 S. Monroe Avenue, with Hillhouse already wanted on a $2,000 cash warrant and facing pending accusations that include organized retail theft, a Mason City Menards theft, domestic abuse assault and other alleged criminal activity.
Mason City Police Chief Mike McKelvey told NIT that officers were dispatched at 8:24 a.m. Thursday, August 13, 2026, to 123 S. Monroe Avenue after receiving a report of a suspected break-in at a vacant apartment.
Officers arrived and discovered a broken window, according to McKelvey. A keyholder confirmed the apartment was supposed to be vacant and allowed police to enter.
Inside, officers found Tristan Gerard Hillhouse and Emily Jo Kellogg.
McKelvey said neither Hillhouse nor Kellogg was a tenant of the apartment and both appeared to be homeless.
Hillhouse was arrested on an outstanding local warrant connected to a third-degree theft case and was also accused Thursday of violation of a protective order, trespass and criminal mischief.
Kellogg was arrested for first-offense trespass and possession of drug paraphernalia.
The investigation remained underway Thursday morning. McKelvey said some of the new charges had not yet appeared on the county inmate listing, and the exact degree of the criminal mischief allegation against Hillhouse was still being determined because police had not finalized a damage estimate.
The apartment arrest adds another chapter to a busy stretch of criminal cases involving Hillhouse, who is facing theft-related accusations in Mason City and Cedar Falls as well as a separate domestic abuse assault case.
The Mason City theft case began with an alleged shoplifting episode at Menards.
McKelvey told NIT that Menards employees contacted police at 5:31 p.m. after Hillhouse allegedly entered the store, picked up several packages of trading cards and went into the men’s restroom.
Police were told Hillhouse later walked out of the restroom without the cards visible in his hands and then left the store without paying for them.
Employees checked the restroom but were unable to locate the merchandise, according to McKelvey.
The trading cards were valued at approximately $210.
McKelvey said Hillhouse’s multiple previous theft convictions allowed prosecutors to enhance the allegation to third-degree theft.
There is a date discrepancy between the police account and the Iowa court file. McKelvey said the alleged Menards episode occurred March 20, while the Cerro Gordo County criminal case lists an offense date of May 20, 2026.
Court records show Hillhouse is charged with third-degree theft, an aggravated misdemeanor, in Cerro Gordo County case 02171 AGCR034932.
An arrest warrant carrying a $2,000 cash bond was issued May 21 and served in June. Hillhouse later entered a written plea of not guilty.
A jury trial was scheduled for August 25, but court records show Hillhouse failed to appear for an August 10 pretrial conference. A new statewide bench warrant carrying $2,000 cash bond was issued August 11.
That warrant was served Thursday after Mason City police found Hillhouse inside the vacant apartment.
Hillhouse and Kellogg are also defendants in a collection of pending Black Hawk County cases arising from alleged retail theft activity in Cedar Falls.
Court records show both are accused of organized retail theft stemming from a May 21 incident investigated by the Cedar Falls Police Department.
Hillhouse faces organized retail theft, a serious misdemeanor, and fifth-degree theft in Black Hawk County case 01071 AGCR269398. Court filings in that case identify Target in connection with a $172.91 asset-protection recovery and reference a co-defendant.
Kellogg faces an organized retail theft charge in Black Hawk County case 01071 SRCR269392 arising from the same Cedar Falls police case number.
The two also have additional fifth-degree theft cases in Black Hawk County.
Records in those cases reference Target asset-protection recovery amounts of $172.91 and $259.96 and indicate alleged co-defendant activity.
Hillhouse has pleaded not guilty in at least one of the pending Cedar Falls cases, and court proceedings are scheduled into September.
McKelvey told NIT he could not comment on another agency’s organized retail theft investigation or whether Hillhouse was suspected of being part of a broader theft ring.
Hillhouse is also facing a separate Mason City allegation involving violence.
Cerro Gordo County court records show Hillhouse was charged following a July 11, 2026 incident with domestic abuse assault causing bodily injury or mental illness, first offense, a serious misdemeanor.
A no-contact order was entered in that case. Hillhouse was initially held for bond and later posted cash bond on July 28. An arraignment was scheduled for August 17.
Police said Thursday that Hillhouse was also being arrested for an alleged violation of a protective order, although authorities had not yet released additional details about the circumstances surrounding that allegation.
Hillhouse also has a relatively recent theft conviction from neighboring Franklin County.
He was originally charged there with second-degree theft, a Class D felony, following a February 15, 2025 incident.
On November 18, 2025, Hillhouse entered a negotiated guilty plea to the reduced charge of third-degree theft, an aggravated misdemeanor.
Court records show he received a 60-day jail sentence that was suspended, an $855 fine that was also suspended and one year of probation.
His encounters with law enforcement stretch back much further.
NIT reported in 2018 that Hillhouse, then wanted on warrants from three counties, was chased and apprehended by police in Charles City.
A year earlier, NIT reported that Hillhouse was accused of burglary in Waverly.
And back in 2014, NIT reported that Hillhouse had skipped a theft trial before later turning himself in.
Kellogg’s pending Black Hawk County cases also remain unresolved. In addition to the organized retail theft accusation, court records show she faces separate fifth-degree theft allegations connected to Cedar Falls Police Department investigations.
Thursday’s discovery at the vacant Mason City apartment could result in additional court filings as police finish assessing the damaged property and complete their investigation.
All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
