One of the charges includes using a TASER on a citizen in exchange for cash.
The mayor, police chief, city clerk and a former city clerk of a city in Iowa, have all been charged after an investigation of more than a year in which they are accused of misusing city funds, compiling fraudulent public records, using of a TASER on a citizen in exchange for cash and concealment of embezzlement.
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office filed charges Feb. 11 against current and former officials from the city of Armstrong, Iowa, located in Emmet County near the Minnesota border, according to a statement issued by the Emmet County Sheriff’s Office.
“Mayor Greg Buum, Chief of Police Craig Merrill, City Clerk Tracie Lang, and former City Clerk Connie Thackery have been charged with misdemeanors and misconduct in a 21-year joint hearing approved by Emmet County District Court,” the sheriff’s office in Emmet said. County said. .
Buum, Merrill and Thackery face a peak number of ongoing criminal activity – a Class B crime – while Lang has a pinnacle of fraudulent practices in the first grade – a Class C crime.
“The investigation revealed wrongdoing by the accused, including, but not limited to, misappropriation of city funds, the presentation of fraudulent public records, the use of a TASER against a citizen in exchange for cash, and forgery of ledgers to to conceal eclipse, “said Emmet County Sheriff’s Office.
Following a special investigation by the State Department, three of the four suspects were subsequently arrested on Feb. 12 with the help of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
According to the sheriff of Emmet County, who said the charges against the suspects had been filed from a “multi-year investigation”, there may still be arrests pending, but they did not disclose who they were still investigating. , or confirm that this potential does not exist. arrests would take place.