One of the charges includes the use of a TASER on a civilian in exchange for money.
The mayor, chief of police, municipal clerk and a former Iowa city clerk were all charged after a multiyear investigation that accuses them of misappropriating city funds by producing fraudulent public records using a TASER on a civilian in exchange for money and concealment of embezzlement.
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office filed charges on February 11 against current and former civil servants in the city of Armstrong, Iowa, located in Emmet County near the Minnesota border, according to a statement released by the Iowa office. sheriff of Emmet County.
“Mayor Greg Buum, police chief Craig Merrill, city employee Tracie Lang and former employee Connie Thackery were charged with crime and misdemeanor in a 21-count joint trial passed by the Emmet County district court,” he said. the Emmet County sheriff’s office.
Buum, Merrill and Thackery face one of the main charges of ongoing criminal conduct – a Class B crime – while Lang faces one of the main charges of fraudulent practice in the first degree – a Class C crime.
“The investigation revealed irregularities committed by the defendants, including, but not limited to, the misappropriation of city funds, the presentation of fraudulent public records, the implantation of a TASER against a civilian in exchange for money and the forgery of books to hide misappropriation” , said the Emmet County Office sheriff said.
After a special investigation by the Auditor of State’s Office, three of the four suspects were arrested on February 12 with the assistance of the Iowa Criminal Investigation Division.
More arrests may be pending in connection with this case, according to the Emmet County Sheriff’s Office, which said the charges against the suspects resulted from a “multi-year investigation”, but they did not disclose who else they were investigating. or confirmed whether these possible arrests would occur.