Le Mars Police Investigate Counterfeit Currency
(Le Mars) — Le Mars Police Department is investigating two cases of counterfeit money being passed to local businesses. Le Mars Police Chief Kevin Vande Vegte says earlier in the month a fake $50 was detected, and this week a separate incident involving a fake $100 bill was given as payment.
Vande Vegte believes the two incidents are not connected. He says the $100 bill was false currency that is used for movie productions.
Aside from Le Mars, the “hollywood” money has turned up in Spencer, Storm Lake, and Graettinger. Vande Vegte says he isn’t certain if it is one indivual behind the counterfeit, or several people. The Le Mars Police Chief says unfortunately, the movie currency looks realistic and is readily available through the internet.
Vande Vegte believes the incident may be isolated, and he does not believe it will become a wide-spread problem.
The Le Mars Police Chief offers suggestions as to what people can look for to make certain they have real money.
Eagle Grove Fire Responsible For One Fatality and One Injury
EAGLE GROVE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a house fire in north-central Iowa killed one person and injured another.
Eagle Grove Fire Chief Tom Peterson told The Messenger that three people were in the Eagle Grove home when the blaze erupted around 9:30 p.m. Monday. He says two of them made it out – one uninjured and one later taken to an Iowa City
hospital. Firefighters found the third resident’s body as they knocked down flames.
Peterson says an electrical fire in the kitchen spread through the rear of the structure.
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Authorities Believe Refrigerator Sparked Fort Dodge Explosion
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a refrigerator likely touched off an explosion of natural gas that ripped through a house in Fort Dodge. The four residents had just been told to leave the house when the blast occurred Feb. 14.
Two were unharmed. Two were taken to a hospital. The Messenger reports that officials think the gas had migrated into the house through the soil and that the refrigerator compressor turning on provided the spark of ignition.
Bachelor Reality TV Star To Go To Trial
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A trial date has been set for Chris Soules, the Iowa farmer-turned-reality television celebrity who is charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident. Judge Andrea Dryer signed an order Tuesday setting a four- day jury trial for Nov. 7 in Independence. Soules appeared on “The Bachelor” and
“Dancing With The Stars” in 2015 and became a television celebrity. However, after returning home to his family’s northern Iowa farm, he struck a tractor driven by a neighbor on April 24 last year.
