Category: Crime

MINNEAPOLIS — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is blasting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Board of Pardons after officials granted clemency to a Laotian immigrant previously convicted in an armed robbery case and recently taken into ICE custody.

DHS said Jai Vang, a native of Laos, received a pardon from Walz and the Minnesota Board of Pardons on May 27, 2026.

According to DHS, Vang’s criminal record includes felony convictions for robbery and robbery of a business with a gun, along with a conviction for driving under the influence of liquor.

Seven people are dead after an Iowa mass shooting that police say appears to have stemmed from a domestic dispute.

When officers arrived, they found four victims inside the residence. All four had suffered gunshot wounds and were pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said the suspected shooter had left before law enforcement arrived, but he was quickly identified.

CHARLES CITY – A man arrested by Charles City police after an early-morning traffic stop for alleged drunk driving was later listed in custody on an immigration hold, according to law enforcement and jail records.

PLYMOUTH – A Mason City man was arrested after authorities say he crashed a motorcycle in Plymouth and was later charged with drunken driving and marijuana possession.

According to the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched at about 12:39 a.m. on May 31, 2026, to the intersection of Main Street East and Rock Street in Plymouth for a report of a motorcycle crash with injuries.

WATERLOO — A Northern Iowa teenager was seriously injured early Sunday after a shooting in Waterloo, police said.

DES MOINES — A disgraced former superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district has been sentenced to two years in federal prison after admitting he falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen and illegally possessed firearms while living in the country without legal status.

MASON CITY — A suspect was jailed early Saturday after Mason City police responded to a suspicious situation call downtown and arrested him on drug and probation-related charges.

WATERLOO — A Northern Iowa school principal, track coach, and theology teacher has been arrested after Waterloo police say detectives investigated an alleged inappropriate relationship involving a juvenile female student.

Waterloo police issued an update Saturday, May 30, 2026, saying detectives had filed an additional charge of grooming, also a Class D felony. Police said Tanney was being held in the Black Hawk County Jail.

A Nebraska man sought for questioning in a burglary and theft investigation was injured after allegedly fleeing from a Northern Iowa deputy and rolling a pickup truck while trying to drive along railroad tracks, authorities said.

WASHINGTON – As Minnesota officials largely look the other way, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations cuffed two “Minnesota” women on charges of health care fraud after stealing more than $21 million from American taxpayers.

A Mexican national living in northwest Iowa has pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally reentering the United States as an aggravated felon, after authorities say he had already been deported four times and had prior federal convictions for the same offense.

His criminal history includes a 1991 conviction in Los Angeles County, California, for shooting at an inhabited dwelling, an offense federal prosecutors identified as an aggravated felony. The California crime is commonly associated with firing a gun at an occupied home or building.

MASON CITY – A Mason City man is facing a serious felony burglary charge after police say he violently forced his way into a local residence while armed with a handgun and threatened the people inside.

A Guatemalan man living in Northern Iowa has pleaded guilty in federal court after authorities say he illegally reentered the United States, fled from law enforcement more than once and was later turned over to immigration authorities following an arrest.

According to federal prosecutors, law enforcement attempted to stop a vehicle driven by Morales-Ramos on April 1, 2026, for speeding. Authorities say he failed to stop and later fled on foot. Inside the vehicle, law enforcement allegedly found an open alcohol bottle in the center console, additional alcohol in the car and a fictitious international driver’s license.

MASON CITY — A Mason City woman was arrested Saturday evening after police say a traffic stop led to allegations of drunk driving, speeding and an open container violation.

Northern Iowa deputies arrested a Guatemalan man after an injured woman allegedly fled a domestic assault and tried to flag down vehicles along a rural Fayette County road.

A Northern Iowa man accused of pointing a laser at Iowa National Guard helicopters was later convicted in a criminal case that began with complaints from helicopter pilots and ended with a search of a rural Grundy County home, where authorities said they found illegal drugs and firearms.

MASON CITY – A Mason City man who was already serving probation in an OWI case was arrested after police responded to a reported disturbance at a local apartment complex.

MASON CITY – A Mason City man is facing 10 felony charges after authorities arrested him on a warrant tied to an Iowa criminal case involving alleged depictions of minors in sex acts.

MINNEAPOLIS — A Minnesota suspect accused in a multimillion-dollar Medicaid fraud scheme was captured Thursday after federal authorities say he jumped from a fourth-floor balcony to escape FBI agents trying to arrest him.

The suspect, Muhammad Abdulqadir Omar, is accused of working with Ibrahim Bashir Abdi, 25, of Minneapolis, in a fraud scheme involving Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program, a Medicaid-funded program intended to help people with disabilities and other eligible residents find and keep housing.

WASHINGTON – The ringleader of the “Feeding Our Future” scam up in neighboring Minnesota that robbed taxpayers nationwide of countless millions with virtually zero return on investment will roam a tiny cell for probably the rest of her existence, federal authorities said on Friday.

Aimee Bock (pictured at top in a jail photo) has been sentenced to 500 months in prison for her lead role in a $250 million fraud scheme that exploited a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A northern Iowa methamphetamine dealer who fled from law enforcement through part of a college campus before officers found more than 70 grams of meth in his car has been sentenced to more than 18 years in federal prison.

An Iowa man is in custody at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility after authorities said a dog was abused, shot in the head and later died from its injuries.

A northern Iowa man was arrested after authorities searching for stolen property at a Bremer County residence allegedly found evidence tied to methamphetamine use.

ESTHERVILLE – A north Iowa man already facing a string of felony drug and weapon charges in Emmet County was arrested again this month in Dickinson County, where court records show he now faces three new charges after an apparent jail altercation.

A Chicago man who authorities say brought a gun into an Iowa home invasion involving victims and a minor child has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison after again being caught illegally possessing a firearm.

An Iowa man has been charged with first-degree murder after authorities say the remains of a man reported missing nearly three years ago were found buried behind a remote rest area.

ARLINGTON – A Northern Iowa man with a drug conviction dating back to the 1990s has been sentenced after authorities say deputies raided his Fayette County home twice in less than a month during narcotics investigations.

Authorities said the suspect was charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana, a Class D felony; failure to affix a drug tax stamp, a Class D felony; possession of a controlled substance, a serious misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor.

A Northern Iowa man who lost control of his Jeep Wrangler and put it into a roadside timber area on Christmas Eve was later convicted of operating while under the influence, marking another OWI conviction on his Iowa court record.

CHARLES CITY — A Minnesota man was stopped by police in Charles City after they say he was driving without headlights on a recent morning, and he apparently didn’t go quietly when told he was under arrest.

A Kansas woman arrested in March on a criminal warrant has been convicted of felony theft in northern Iowa.

CHARLES CITY — A Charles City woman was arrested on a felony theft warrant after police conducted a traffic stop earlier this month.

A Wisconsin man arrested earlier this year after deputies received multiple reports of a vehicle in a Fayette County ditch has entered a guilty plea in the case, court records show, and this is not his first brush with drunk driving here.

A Minnesota man who stole cattle from a farmer and sold them in Northern Iowa pled guilty on May 8, 2026, in federal court in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Lawrence “Larry” Patrick Burns, age 48, from Eitzen, Minnesota, was convicted of one count of transportation of stolen livestock.

CHARLES CITY — A 16-year-old male juvenile was taken into custody after Charles City police investigated a reported motor vehicle theft.

CLERMONT — A Northern Iowa man was arrested Saturday night after a single-vehicle crash in Fayette County.

SIOUX CITY — A Honduran national with prior convictions for methamphetamine delivery and illegal reentry into the United States has been sentenced to federal prison after again unlawfully returning to the country, according to federal authorities.

POCAHONTAS COUNTY – Pocahontas County authorities arrested three individuals following the execution of a search warrant at a Pocahontas residence late last month.

SIOUX CITY – This Mason City meth dealer with a decorated past criminal history was nabbed selling his poison to an undercover agent and not faces a long stretch in a federal prison.

FAYETTE COUNTY — Several people were arrested in separate incidents reported by a Northern Iowa sheriff’s office between May 8 and May 10.