Oversight Scarce in Dallas County's Interstate Seizures of $1.75 Million Jesus Quinonez-Jimenez's first encounter with the Dallas County sheriff's department was bathed in flashing red lights as he drove along Interstate Highway 80 in March. His last came a short time later, after he denied ownership of the Illinois-registered 2000 Audi and more than $781,000 was found wrapped in plastic and hidden in secret compartments behind the car's rear wheels. Quinonez, who gave deputies a California address, was allowed to leave - without the cash; without the car. [continues 2820 words]
Brian Gilbert has been under investigation since March, when some of the money seized during a traffic stop disappeared. Dallas County Sheriff Brian Gilbert stood in front of four dozen friends and co-workers Friday and announced plans to resume his duties, despite a criminal investigation into a packet of money missing from a March 15 traffic stop. "We're at a point where I am ready to return to work," said Gilbert, who has been on a self-imposed vacation since the state investigation began. "I have sworn to uphold a duty ... and it's time that I got back to work to do that." [continues 452 words]
The lawyer for Anthony Anania's alleged killer says other people had a motive for killing him. A popular south-side teenager whose shooting death baffled neighbors and relatives last summer was a large-scale marijuana dealer known for having significant quantities of drugs and cash, a lawyer for his accused killer has alleged. Anthony Anania, 19, was found critically injured in May behind the wheel of his car, which had collided with a tree in the 700 block of Southeast Park Avenue. He was taken to a hospital, where police learned he had been shot. [continues 447 words]
Luis Flores was given probation for aiding and abetting, but now faces the loss of his home. A Des Moines man who served as the lookout while a relative collected more than 40 pounds of marijuana from a shipping business fears that he will lose his home over unpaid taxes on drugs he never saw. Luis R. Flores, 40, has cleared probation and will walk away with no criminal record from a favor he did for his cousin, Felix Calderon, in July 2004. [continues 452 words]
Some Judges Use Too Much Discretion, Are Too Lenient, Critics Say In the first 13 months since federal judges were handed more freedom in sentencing, punishment disparities have developed among courthouses nationwide, new data show. Federal prosecutors and judges in Iowa downplay the meaning of the statistics, but defense attorneys say the numbers reinforce what they have always believed: Varying judicial temperaments, combined with harsher prosecution in Iowa's northern half, can create widely different sentences for similar crimes. "There are some judges who are far less likely to" depart from federal sentencing guidelines, said Alfredo Parrish, a defense attorney who has represented alleged criminals in both of Iowa's federal districts. "Everybody knows it." [continues 1049 words]
A former West Des Moines police technician was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison for stealing $37,000 in forfeited drug money over the four years he worked in the evidence room. Charles Edward Graham, 43, pleaded guilty of first-degree theft in January after three months of questions about the integrity of the city's police investigations. Court records show Graham, of Cumming, was arrested after two Crimestoppers telephone tips that alleged an "alcohol, drugs and gambling addiction." Documents show Graham has denied that he stole drugs from police custody. He has acknowledged a gambling problem, however, and has borrowed money to repay the $37,000 in cash he says he took from the department. [continues 183 words]
The jury is being selected in the trial of a man accused of shooting at 10 officers. The case of a Des Moines drug sting that ended in a hail of gunfire at a south-side hotel last spring will hinge on whether jurors feel one of two defendants was justified when he shot at 10 police officers who surprised him during an alleged methamphetamine deal. Jury selection begins today in Dennis "D.J." Schofield's trial on a list of charges that include 10 counts of attempted murder from a May shootout at the Heartland Inn, 1901 S.W. Hackley Ave. [continues 241 words]
Authorities Say Derek Thompson Was At The Center Of The Scheme The letter from Derek "Smoke" Thompson's former neighbor arrived at the Polk County Courthouse in January 2003, about three months into Thompson's first real prison sentence, and its words pleaded urgently for a second chance. Thompson, whose name now adorns roughly 100 Iowa court files, was looking at five years for possessing 83 grams of marijuana. Before entering prison, he had been out on appeal for a year, gone through rehab and opened a car-cleaning business. Thompson was a changed man, Ronnie Cyprus wrote to Judge Scott Rosenberg. He had "turned his life of crime into a life that is pleasing to others" and now stood as "an inspiration to those who may be following the same path he once traveled." [continues 631 words]
Lee Castillo Agrees To Spend Up To 30 Years In Prison For Meth Trafficking One of two Des Moines men involved in what police say was a drug sting-turned-shootout at a south-side hotel in May agreed Wednesday to spend up to 30 years in state prison. Lee Castillo, 27, pleaded guilty to methamphetamine trafficking charges that stemmed from an incident May 10 at the Heartland Inn, 1901 S.W. Hackley Ave. Five people, including both suspects, were wounded. [continues 238 words]
Confrontations Are Alleged To Include A Baseball Bat, A Brick, Profanity And Disorderly Conduct Polk County court records show the man alleged to have shot three police officers during a drug sting at a south Des Moines hotel has a history of violent confrontations - and of bailing other violent people out of jail. But neither Dennis Joseph Schofield nor a fellow suspect, Lee Michael Castillo, have served jail time for illegal narcotics, according to county records. Court documents list a series of arrests for Schofield, 24, that began with a September 2003 disorderly conduct charge. Schofield allegedly "directed profanity" at some south-side liquor store employees who refused to serve him without identification. [continues 270 words]
