The Council Bluffs Police Department was among the agencies assisting in a nationwide fraud conspiracy case that has seen four Georgia men sentenced to federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Richard D. Westphal of the Southern District of Iowa announced Thursday that according to public court documents, between March 2022 and April 2024, 26-year-old Russell Tafron Weatherspoon, 23-year-old Karl Andre Dieudonne, 32-year-old Demonte Tequis Brazil, and 25-year-old Gregory Lamar Scorza ran a multi-state fraud scheme–leading victims in several states, including Iowa, to believe that an arrest warrant had been issued for them for failing to appear in court.

Continue reading “Iowa judge sentences four Georgia men in multi-state text scam case” →

South Dakota’s first state public defender and his staff of four have taken on 43 cases since taking their first this winter.

Lawmakers created and funded the Office of Indigent Legal Services in 2024 to address the ballooning cost of lawyers for people who have a constitutional right to one but can’t afford it.

The state convened a task force to address that issue in 2023, spurred in part by the doubling of county-paid public defense bills in the space of 10 years.

Continue reading “New state public defense office has taken 43 cases so far” →

Tech entrepreneur David Erickson has been acquitted of all charges — 16 in total — in an alleged tax evasion scheme. After a two-week trial, defense counsel William Mauzy and William Dooling, of Mauzy Law Office, prevailed.

“This case was very challenging, one of the more complex I have been involved with in a very long career,” Mauzy said.

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Tracy Germait has waited more than two years for a public defender in her Brown County felony drug cases.

In the time since her two cases were first opened, Germait has worked on turning her life around: She has led two addiction support groups, became a certified peer support specialist, worked toward her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice online from Colorado Tech University, gained custody of her three children and has stayed clean for 18 months.

Continue reading “Three years and more than 10,000 lawyer calls after being charged, this Wisconsin mother still doesn’t have a defense attorney” →

Hundreds of people were ticketed or arrested during a state-funded saturation patrol that put 15 additional state troopers on the streets of South Dakota’s largest city last week.

The troopers labored from Aug. 27 through Aug. 29 under the banner of “Operation Prairie Thunder,” a two-pronged public safety initiative announced in July by Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden.

Continue reading “First state-funded ‘Prairie Thunder’ patrol results in 44 felony drug arrests in Sioux Falls” →

Six federal judges in South Carolina, including Chief U.S. Judge Timothy Cain, have written a letter highlighting a critical money shortage in the state’s federal criminal justice system.

The situation they shine a light on involves a lack of federal funds to pay South Carolina’s 127 private criminal defense attorneys — called “panel attorneys” — who are financed with public money to represent indigent defendants charged with federal crimes, wrote U.S. Judge Timothy Cain, a former state judge and former law partner of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

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A new study from Iowa State University, published in the South Dakota Law Review, shows that over half of rural U.S. counties lack enough lawyers—including more than 20 in South Dakota. The shortage affects access to legal help for criminal, family, and estate matters.

Continue reading “Study Finds Legal Shortage in Rural America, Over 20 South Dakota Counties Affected” →

South Dakota’s medical cannabis industry voiced its support for sting operations targeting sellers of hemp products that create a marijuana-like high.

The comments from Jeremiah Murphy, a lobbyist for the Cannabis Industry Association of South Dakota, came during Tuesday’s meeting of the state’s Medical Marijuana Oversight Committee.

Murphy’s association represents the state’s 116 licensed medical cannabis cultivators, manufacturers and dispensaries.

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South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has announced he is leading a bipartisan coalition of 11 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief to support American cattle ranchers. The brief targets manufacturers who are using a “Product of USA” label on foreign-sourced beef products.

The legal action stems from a lawsuit filed by South Dakota ranchers in federal court after the U.S. Department of Agriculture initially allowed manufacturers to use the “Product of USA” label on beef from other countries. A District Court previously ruled in favor of the ranchers, and the case is now on appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Continue reading “SD Attorney General Leads Effort Against Misleading ‘Product of USA’ Beef Labeling” →

The South Dakota Department of Social Services (DSS) is advising all Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to immediately change their personal identification numbers (PINs) to protect their benefits from theft. This warning comes after the discovery that more than 350 SNAP beneficiaries in the Sioux Falls area had their benefits stolen.

An investigation revealed that skimming devices were likely placed on point-of-sale terminals at the Walmart Supercenter on East Arrowwood Parkway and at several Dollar General stores in Sioux Falls. These devices illegally captured individuals’ SNAP account numbers and PINs, which were then used to process fraudulent transactions out of state.

Continue reading “SNAP Recipients Urged to Change PINs After Thefts in Sioux Falls” →