84 Felony and Misdemeanor Charges to Former Iowa Officer

If you were being charged with 84 combined felony and misdemeanor charges that's roughly 1 per month for 4 years. Yikes.

A former police officer in the city of Armstrong is being charged with 84 felony and misdemeanor counts, with some dating back to 2016 according to USA News.

Armstrong is a town with a population of 843 residents and is located in Emmet County according to World Population Review.

If you're unfamiliar with the town of Armstrong it's located in northern Iowa, very close to the Minnesota border. It's about here.

Benjamin Scheevel has been charged with crimes varying from stalking, which involved multiple women, non-felony misconduct in office, assault, and unauthorized dissemination of criminal history data according to KILR

Some of these charges you are probably more familiar with than others. I did want to look them up for you and give a clearer example of what these mean if you need a refresher. (I am paraphrasing here)

Stalking - a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear. According to Victim Connect. This can include unwanted contact, text messages, emails, etc.

Non-Felony Misconduct in office - any public officer or employee who commits a serious misdemeanor. According to Legis Iowa

Assault - any act which is intended to cause pain or injury to, or which is intended to result in physical contact. According to Legis Iowa

Unauthorized Dissemination of Criminal History Data - "The purpose of these regulations is to assure criminal history record information, wherever it appears, is collected, stored, and disseminated in a manner to ensure the accuracy, completeness, currency, integrity, and security of such information and to protect individual privacy" according to ECFR Gov

Counts of obstruction, theft, and tax evasion have also been included according to CBS2Iowa.

There's more...

The Iowa Attorney General's office will handle the case and is pursuing even more cases against Armstrong officials.

These include the former mayor, police chief, and several town clerks according to CBS2Iowa.

This has been a multi-year investigation involving embezzlement and other abuses. Scheevel is being held in Buena Vista County Jail and is scheduled to stand trial on July 12 according to KIRL