Police and courts

Trial scheduled for daycare neglect case

A jury will be empaneled next September to hear an Alta family’s claims that a child was scalded at Ready, Set, GROW Learning Center in Alta in August 2023.

Buena Vista County District Court Judge Shayne Mayer scheduled a three-day jury trial to hear Isaiah and Melanie Deiber’s claims that the daycare staff failed to properly regulate water temperature in their faucets and neglected to supervise their 15-month-old daughter while she washed her hands. The Deibers allege that the daycare’s faucets provided water at or above 150 degrees Fahrenheit when they should never exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit. 

When their daughter washed her hands the morning of Aug. 23, 2023, the Deibers allege that she stopped being directly supervised. Also according to the lawsuit, Ready, Set, GROW staff allegedly then heard the toddler scream and cry and found her hand red and blistered. The Deibers took their daughter to the hospital shortly after staff informed them of the injury and found that she sustained second degree burns, according to the petition. Pictures on file show red, peeling and blistered wounds on the toddler’s right hand pointer finger, allegedly taken two days after being scalded. 

The Deibers claim the daycare was negligent in failing to keep its water heater at a reasonably safe temperature, failing to check the water temperature before washing their daughter’s hands, and failing to supervise her during handwashing. The Deibers allege that negligence at Ready, Set, GROW resulted in the injury. 

The daycare denied the Deibers’ claims. Jason Palmer, a West Des Moines attorney representing the daycare, argued that “any damages sustained by the plaintiff was the result of an intervening and/or superseding cause,” according to a filing submitted in district court May 3. Palmer also asked that if the daycare was found liable for the child’s injuries, the jury should calculate the Deibers’ damages through a percentage of fault. 

The Deibers demanded a jury trial and asked that the daycare pay “for reasonable and necessary medical expenses past and future,” according to the April petition filed by attorney Aaron Wooden of Cedar Rapids. 

Probation for Newell teen

A Newell teen received two years probation related to prior probation violations and domestic assault charges. 

Last June, Joseph Gilligan, 19, was taken into custody after allegedly engaging in a verbal altercation and pushing his mother to the floor, inflicting a cut above her eye. 

Associate Buena Vista County District Court Judge Andy Smith deferred judgment of Gilligan’s case and ordered one year of probation under the Third Judicial District Department of Correctional Services on Dec. 7. Judge Smith also mandated that Gilligan obtain a substance abuse evaluation and comply with mental health evaluation recommendations. 

Early this year, officers arrested Gilligan again when he allegedly pulled out a switchblade knife during a domestic assault situation, according to an affidavit filed Jan. 19 by Newell police. On Jan. 24, Judge Smith issued a no-contact order which is still in place. The next day, a court citation accused Gilligan of violating his probation.

Gilligan reportedly failed to appear at his June 10 sentencing hearing, according to an affidavit filed by a Buena Vista County Courthouse attendant. On June 11 Gilligan pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon, an aggravated misdemeanor. 

Judge Smith sentenced Gilligan to two years probation in lieu of up to two years incarceration, thereby revoking the deferred judgment. He also prohibited Gilligan from obtaining or using firearms. The court ultimately dismissed a count of harassment in the first degree related to the same incident in January. 

Guilty plea for burglary

A Storm Lake man pleaded guilty to burglarizing a home on Harmony Court in February. 

Marson Peter, 18, pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary through a filing in Buena Vista County District Court June 13. Sentencing in front of Judge Charles Borth is scheduled for July 29.

In February, Storm Lake police arrested Peter after he and five accomplices allegedly broke into a garage on 800 Harmony Court and stole water bottles and flashlights from inside. Peter was charged with burglary in the third degree.  

Jail time in night club brawl

A Lakeside man will serve 30 days in jail for unlawful assembly charges related to a late night brawl at Oasis Night Club. 

Storm Lake police arrested Yoandri Batista Valdes, 32, and six others after an alleged fight broke out in the club last December. According to an affidavit filed in Buena Vista County District Court Dec. 24, video surveillance footage revealed a fight in which Batista allegedly punched and kicked several people. The complaint claimed Batista was “part of a riot by assembling with multiple other persons in a violent manner.”

Batista pleaded guilty to unlawful assembly, an aggravated misdemeanor. Shortly after, District Court Judge Charles Borth sentenced Batista to 30 days in jail with work release and electronic monitoring permitted. Batista agreed to serve the sentence. He pleaded to the misdemeanor charge. In exchange, the Buena Vista County Attorney’s Office reduced the severity of one charge against Batista and dismissed another felony charge. The county attorney’s office at first pursued felony rioting and intimidation with a dangerous weapon, also a felony. 

In an agreement with Batista, County Attorney Paul Allen agreed to amend the rioting charge to the misdemeanor charge to which Batsita pleaded guilty. The felony weapon charge was dismissed, per the agreement. 

In January, Batista had filed a request for a new attorney, claiming that he had not heard from his court-appointed attorney, Chad Primmer, in two weeks, according to a motion to withdraw. Associate Buena Vista County District Court Judge Andy Smith denied Batista’s request, stating “there are no contract attorneys available to represent the defendant.”

However, in April, Primmer filed another motion to withdraw, citing “a complete breakdown in the attorney client relationship.” District Court Judge John Sandy approved another motion to withdraw counsel and appointed attorney Cassi Wigington to Batista’s case.

Evidence seized in self-inflicted stabbing

Law enforcement officials seized a Hawaii-style skirt, men’s underwear and bloody cotton swabs in connection with an investigation into a self-inflicted stabbing in Storm Lake last month. 

A search warrant that was executed on a Kia Telluride and a residence in the 400 block of Michigan Street yielded the swabs, the skirt and the underwear, according to recently filed court documents. Law enforcement was seeking either a bloody knife, weapons or “any items that have blood on them” after an incident involving Simon Smith, a 35-year-old Storm Lake man who presented himself to Buena Vista Regional Medical Center with a stab wound that officers deemed suspicious. Smith later revealed to an investigator that the stab wound was self-inflicted after a physical altercation with his wife, 32-year-old Dixie Neior, who was attempting to flee the residence, according to court documents. 

Smith was charged with three counts of child endangerment and domestic assault causing bodily injury. Neior was charged with three counts of child endangerment. The charges stem from a search of the Michigan Street residence, where law enforcement officers found exposed electrical outlets, a lighter with burn marks on the floor and a flooded basement with apparent mold growth. The three counts of child endangerment were filed for each of the children living in the residence with Neior and Smith. 

Smith and Neior have pleaded not guilty to the charges. They’re slated for separate jury trials in August.

Sentencing set for parking lot altercation

A Storm Lake man will face sentencing in July related to an altercation in the Walmart parking lot. 

Chuol Gatluak, 24, was allegedly identified via video surveillance outside Walmart last December punching another individual, according to an affidavit filed in Buena Vista County District Court by Storm Lake police. On Dec. 10, Gatluak was allegedly with four male friends in the Walmart parking lot asking another individual for “some smoke,” according to the affidavit. A physical altercation allegedly broke out when the individual answered “no.” The affidavit claims that Gatluak punched one of the men three to four times in the back of the head, but that he did not sustain visible injuries. 

Police uncovered the altercation on Walmart video surveillance, according to court documents. Buena Vista County District Court Judge Andy Smith issued a warrant for Gatluak’s arrest two days after it was requested by law enforcement authorities.

In April, Gatluak pleaded guilty to participating in a riot, a felony. District Court Judge Charles Borth set Gatluak’s sentencing hearing for 10 a.m. on July 29 at the Buena Vista County Courthouse.  

75 days in jail for buglary, threats

A Storm Lake man was sentenced to 75 days in jail for a series of offenses dating back to last September. 

Associate Buena Vista County District Court Judge Andy Smith sentenced Apollo Price, 44, to the jail term in an order last month. The order was handed down in front of County Attorney Paul Allen and Price, who didn’t agree on what sentence fit the crimes he was convicted of. He pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana second offense and first-degree harassment, both misdemeanors. In exchange, the Buena Vista County Attorney’s Office dismissed all remaining counts against Price and lowered the severity of the marijuana possession charge Price pleaded guilty to. The state sought trial on misdemeanor harassment and felony charges for burglary, marijuana possession and failure to affix a drug stamp. (The tax stamp and burglary charges were dismissed.)

The convictions stem from a series of arrests last fall and early this spring. Price allegedly burglarized an apartment in the 1400 block of Seneca Street in September. Last October, he was arrested for having over an ounce of marijuana during a traffic stop in the 1500 block of Lake Avenue. In March, Price allegedly threatened to kill his estranged wife during a cellphone conversation. 

Drug sentencing scheduled for drugs

A district court judge has scheduled a sentencing for an Albert City man in connection with a pair of felony drug possession charges.

The Buena Vista County Sheriff’s Office arrested Todd Romo, 60, on Sept. 9, 2023. The officer accompanied a probation officer for a home visitation related to Romo’s probation, which began last January after he was convicted of firearms possession as a felon. 

The officers located drugs and drug paraphernalia “in plain view,” according to an affidavit filed April 1. Officers executed a subsequent search warrant, also according to the affidavit, and located methamphetamine, which was confirmed by the DCI chemical testing lab. 

Romo turned himself into the Buena Vista Sheriff’s Office on April 24, according to a file indicating a warrant was served that same day. 

Romo has been charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of marijuana, both his third or subsequent offense and both felonies. He pleaded guilty to the possession charges, according to a June 12 written guilty plea. The felony charges carry a maximum sentence of five years incarceration. 

Earlier this month, District Judge Charles Borth ordered Romo’s sentencing hearing to take place July 29 at 1:30 p.m. in the Buena Vista County Courthouse. 

Warrant issued

A warrant was issued for the arrest of a Fonda man who allegedly committed a string of probation violations over the last six months. 

Buena Vista County District Court Judge Charles Borth ordered the arrest of Gora Akwai, 25, in an order June 13. Akwai will be held in Buena Vista County Jail on a $2,000 bond upon arrest. Judge Borth noted the Buena Vista County Attorney’s Office showed probable cause that Akwai violated probation.

Assistant County Attorney Ashley Herrig attached a violation report that outlined a string of probation violations dating back to January. Akwai allegedly committed 13 violations, while adjudicated at a residential treatment facility in Fort Dodge, according to court records. He was spotted with a bottle of Five O’Clock vodka inside a coat pocket in January. In February, he was allegedly found with a hidden cell phone hidden in a bunk bed. In the same month he allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine. Earlier this month, he allegedly missed work at McDonald’s, adjacent to the residential treatment facility. 

Caitlin Jeske, a probation officer with the Fort Dodge office, noted Akwai was adjudicated to the facility in lieu of two years in prison. The county attorney’s office has requested revocation of Akwai’s two-year probation sentence twice. Judge Smith has declined to impose prison. 

An initial appearance for the probation revocation hearing will be set after Akwai is arrested. 

Arrest for indecent exposure

A Sioux Rapids man was arrested earlier this month in connection to alleged indecent exposure and assault. 

Christopher Steelman, 50, was booked into Buena Vista County Jail June 13 on charges of indecent exposure and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse, both misdemeanors. Steelman allegedly forced himself on a woman while they were in a car on a gravel road near Linn Grove, according to an affidavit filed by the Buena Vista County Sheriff. The affidavit claims that on June 7, Steelman allegedly grabbed her with the intent of having sex, even after the woman said no. 

Steelman was booked on a $2,000 bond, which he posted the same day he was arrested. He hasn’t yet entered a formal plea to the charges. Arraignment hasn’t been set yet. 

Felony charges dismissed

A slew of felony charges that were leveled against a Storm Lake woman last October were dismissed from Buena Vista County District Court. 

County Attorney Paul Allen wrote in an April filing that the three felony charges leveled against Brianna Chea, 19, should be dismissed because “prosecution isn’t justified.” Allen said of the dismissal that Chea cooperated with an investigation into the incident that prompted the charges. 

“(Chea) was cooperative in the investigation and the overall evidence concerning the incident ultimately led to three other guilty pleas, one for which the primary aggressor went to prison,” Allen told the Times Pilot of the dismissal. 

Chea was one of four Storm Lake residents who were arrested in connection with an alleged at the Storm Lake Casey’s on West Milwaukee Avenue. Storm Lake police alleged Chea positioned a 2014 Toyota Corolla to block in another vehicle at the Casey’s. Tailor Khamtanh, Gabriel Catarino-Rodriguez and June Phiengsai then assaulted the occupant of the vehicle that was blocked in. Khamtanh was sentenced to prison. Catarino-Rodriguez and Phiengsai received two years probation for participating in a riot, a felony charge both men pleaded guilty to in May. 

The victim was charged and convicted of driving while revoked and sentenced to two days in jail, according to court records. The victim was stopped after fleeing from the Casey’s, as he was assaulted, according to court records.