CALHOUN COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – A 19-year-old South Dakota baseball player died after a bus carrying the Iowa Lakes Community College team crashed in northern Iowa on Wednesday. Carter Johnson died at the scene after the bus carrying 33 people rolled into a ditch on Highway 4 west of Twin Lakes in Calhoun County, according to the Iowa State Patrol. The team was traveling to a game in Arkansas when the 74-year-old bus driver went off the road, then overcorrected and rolled the bus into the ditch. All 32 people on the bus were injured in the crash. Two people were ejected and trapped under the bus. Student-athletes in a school van traveling behind the bus gave CPR to Johnson after the crash, but he died at the scene. The Iowa State Patrol said the S-curve where the crash happened is known to be dangerous. Four people have died in crashes there in the last 10 years. Everyone taken by ambulance to the hospital with injuries has been released, according to the Iowa State Patrol. The condition of athletes who were life-flighted to Des Moines was not immediately available. Iowa Lakes Community College canceled classes Thursday and Friday but campuses remain open with counselors available to talk to students.
HAZLETON, Iowa (KCRG) – A Hazleton man was charged Thursday in connection to a months-long identity theft investigation. Dylan DeWolf is charged with one count of identity theft over $10,000 and three counts of felony forgery. Independence police said a local employer contacted them last fall about concerns regarding a former employee. Investigators allege DeWolf had used another person’s identity to sign official documents and receive payments. Police arrested DeWolf without incident at a house in the 300 block of West Hayes Street in Hazleton. If convicted, DeWolf faces up to 15 years in prison.
MONTICELLO, Iowa (KCRG) – A former Monticello high school cheerleading coach received a two-year sentence Monday in a sexual exploitation case. The court accepted 38-year-old Jessica Rubin’s guilty plea to two misdemeanor counts of assault causing mental illness in connection with an alleged sexual relationship with a student. Under the plea deal, she will not have to be on the sex offender registry. She will serve her sentence in the Jones County Jail. She is fined $860 for the offenses. She can pay $4,000 to appeal the offenses. Court documents say Rubin was the cheerleading coach for Monticello High School wrestling when she allegedly had a sexual relationship with a male student. The student told Child Protective Services the relationship lasted from January through September 2021. The two counts of assault are listed from January to February of 2022. The high school principal reported the relationship to the school resource officer on January 10, 2023. Rubin was arrested and charged with sexual exploitation by a counselor.
ATLANTIC, Iowa (KCCI/KCRG) – The Atlantic Community School Board has approved the superintendent’s recommendation to terminate a staff member. The decision comes after a fiery meeting last week where parents and community members demanded answers about allegations involving a school staff member’s conduct with students. The Atlantic Police Department is still investigating those claims. The Atlantic Community School District says it was made aware of a situation with a staffer on January 18 when a parent called in “raising concerns about a staff member” and placed them on administrative leave. KCRG is not naming the staff member because no charges have been filed.
