Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Grandson reportedly left keys in van at the mall, then drove away with a girl whose name he couldn't recall.
A 20-year-old Des Moines man reportedly left the keys in the ignition after parking his grandfather’s van at a West Des Moines mall last week, then discovered it had been burned in Ankeny. The van, a 2011 Dodge, was the family’s only means of transportation, according to a report on file at the West Des Moines Police Department. The owner of the vehicle, a 77-year-old man, loaned it to his grandson, who lives with him, to drive on the evening of Monday, May 13. Police became aware of the situation about 11:40 p.m. that day when an Ankeny police officer contacted Westcom Dispatch and said a vehicle believed to have been stolen from Jordan Creek Town Center had been set on fire on 66th Avenue in Ankeny. The grandson said he had parked the …
Friday, May 17, 2013
West Des Moines police personnel serve up fun, burgers and dogs – and also a reminder of the sacrifices of people who didn't set out to become heros.
Before burgers and dogs were served to hundreds of residents, before children were hoisted to a climbing wall by soldiers, before they received free bicycle helmets and before the bounced in the inflatable Disney house, they received a somber reminder of why they were gathered Thursday on the lawn of the West Des Moines Police Department: Another 138 names were added to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, a monument in Washington, DC, honoring peace officers who have died in the line of duty, bringing to toll to 19,981 men and women. Fortunately, Police Chief Shaun LaDue said in breif remarks to the crowd, the name of only one West Des Moines police officer is carved on the two curving, 304-foot-long blue-gray marble walls of…
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Witness said she has found the child alone and unsupervised once before.
Authorities advised state social workers of a child endangerment investigation Tuesday, but did not charge the mother of two because they did not think the toddlers were in immediate danger, according to a report on file at the West Des Moines Police Department. Authorities were called to an apartment complex in the 4900 block of Woodland Avenue by a resident who said she found a 2-year-old child wandering around outside by herself wearing only a T-shirt and soiled diaper about 8:30 p.m. The woman also has a 1-year-old child who remained inside the apartment. Two weeks earlier, the reporting party, a neighbor, had returned the child to her mother, telling the woman that she would call police if she found the toddler unsupervised outside …
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
“Take-back” events respond to a spate of crime involving firearms.
An increase in drive-by shootings, armed robberies and other gun violence in Des Moines and the metro area has prompted several suburban police departments to take part in “gun take-back” events during National Police Week. Police departments in Urbandale, West Des Moines, Clive and Windsor Heights are cooperating in an event from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Urbandale Police Department, 3740 86th St. Urbandale Police Spokesman Randy Peterson said the Des Moines Police Department spearheaded the take-back program and “other agencies jumped on board.” “We really liked the idea,” he said. Guns and ammunition may not be turned over anonymously an individuals dropping them off must provide identification. Accountability is important so police can …
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Several homes on Westwood drive and Fieldstone Drive vandalized with paintball gun.
A West Des Moines woman told police last week that her home and those of several of her neighbors have been targeted by vandals with paintball guns. According to Officer Barry Graham’s report on file at the West Des Moines Police Department, the woman, 50, said she and her husband were startled about 9 p.m. the night of April 27 when they heard something hit their home and discovered that orange paintballs had been fired. Two male juveniles were seen fleeing in a silver 2000 Jaguar S-type vehicle, but the woman’s husband didn’t recognize either of them. He was able to provide police with the license plate number, however. Several other properties in the neighborhood were vandalized in the same manner on the same date, including every …
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
O.D. Hawkins, 89, left his West Des Moines home for dinner Tuesday night and didn't return home. Have you seen him or his car?
Updated at 3:45 p.m. West Des Moines police say that an 89-year-old man who hadn't been seen since Tuesday evening has been found. Ona Denham (O.D.) Hawkins ws located in Adel about 3:30 p.m. today and has been reunited with his family. West Des Moines Police spokesman Lt. Jim Barrett said the department is thankful to the media and the public for their help in locating the man. Previously, Patch reported: The West Des Moines Police Department is asking for the public’s help in trying to locate a missing elderly man. Ona Denham (O.D.) Hawkins, 89, left his West Des Moines residence at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7. West Des Moines Police Department spokesman Lt. Jim Barrett said Hawkins went to the Isaak Walton League for dinner and didn’t …
Two really, really big chickens were reported stolen from Hy-Vee. (And, no, it’s not genetic modification gone bad.)
This isn’t a story about Chicken Little and the sky isn’t falling. But Henny Penny still might have cause for hysteria. Two big metal chickens – as in “a 7-footer,” Officer Blaine Brinkmeyer wrote in a report on file at the West Des Moines Police Department, and one slightly smaller at only 5 ½ feet tall – were reported stolen from the garden center at Hy-Vee, 1700 Valley West Drive. The first garden sculpture, the smaller of the two valued at $105, was taken sometime overnight Friday. In hopes of preventing the theft of the remaining chicken, which was valued at $185, the store manager ordered it secured with a cable and locked. The enterprising thief or thieves cut the cable and got away with the more expensive sculpture overnight …
Sunday, May 5, 2013
The teenagers' parents want to make amends, but authorities say that's a civil matter.
Friday, May 3, 2013
Police are distributing crime-prevention flyers to businesses along University Avenue, where three robberies have occurred in the past two weeks.
West Des Moines and Clive police think a string of recent robberies in their cities may have been committed by the same person. “It’s unknown whether the three robberies are connected,” West Des Moines Police Lt. Jim Barrett said in a news release. “However, there are enough similarities that detectives from both cities are collaborating in the investigations.” The robberies occurred on April 21, April 23 and April 29. In each of the cases, the robberies occurred around closing time when only a couple of employees were working. In one of the cases, a firearm was threatened, but now shown, police said. In another, the suspect displayed a knife. The suspect is described as a male with a stocky build and standing about 5 feet, 6 inches tall…
Thursday, May 2, 2013
West Des Moines’ criminal investigation unit is looking into the allegations.
A verbal argument that started on a DART metro transit bus ended in fisticuffs after the bus arrived at its destination at Jordan Creek Town Center one morning last week. The victim of the alleged assault, a 22-year-old Des Moines woman, told West Des Moines police that she and another passenger were chatting on the bus about people they knew in common, including the other passenger’s parents. At one point during the conversation, the victim alleged that she had been raped two days before her 18th birthday by the parents of the suspect, a Des Moines woman. Sign up for West Des Moines Patch's free newsletter | Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter When they got off the bus, the suspect allegedly pushed the victim down, held her down …
