Compiled by Bethany Kohoutek bethany@dmcityview.com

Dispatcher: 911...

[The first part of this exchange is unintelligible, but it involves a suspicious suspect at a Casey's General Store.]

Dispatcher: What's he doing inside the store?
Caller: He's eating donuts and scratching a lottery ticket.
D: And is he carrying this knife around, or is it in his pocket?
C: It was open, but now he's got it closed, and he's standing over in front of the donut case. And now he's going back up to the front counter. He must have put the knife in his pocket because I'm not seeing it.
D: You're at 29th and Broadway, right?
C: Yep. I told him to step back. ... Now he's getting ready to head out of the store.
D: Tell me which way he heads out.
C: OK. I've got a license plate number...
D: OK. What's the vehicle?
C: It's a white Chevy pickup... Um, he's coming back in now...
D: Is he still inside the store?
C: Yeah, he's by the register now.
D: He's just been wandering around kind of aimlessly inside the store, right? We should have a deputy there any moment. ... Is he paying for something?
C: Um, he had a box of donuts. But he's just standing there now.
D: Sounds like we have two cars that are just pulling in. Can you see the officers at all?
C: Um, I'm back in the kitchen. ... They are coming in right now.

Officer's Report: Dispatched reference a subject acting strangely and armed with a knife. [The Casey's clerk] advised that [the suspect] was using a large lock blade to scratch his lottery tickets. [The clerk] stated [the suspect] appeared to be under the influence of an unknown substance. [The clerk] stated when she advised [the suspect] to put the knife away, be became belligerent and refused to put the knife away. ... Deputy Richards and myself confronted [the suspect, who] stated he was only using the knife to scratch off his lottery tickets. [The suspect's] eyes were large in diameter. He did not smell of alcohol, and no narcotics were found. [The suspect] was covered in drywall texture. [He] stated it was possible that the "texture fumes got to him." [The suspect's] neighbor was advised to pick up [the suspect] and the vehicle. [The suspect] had a 6-inch lock blade knife in his pocket, and a large knife was lying next to the passenger's seat in his father's truck. Both knives were confiscated for safekeeping. [The suspect] was advised of criminal trespass from Casey's. [He] was released to [his neighbor].

Docket diving

The state of Iowa has struggled with when and how to classify a sex offender as a "sexually violent predator," a title that requires much stricter surveillance once an inmate is paroled. However, in Eddie Risdal's case, it probably wasn't a very tough call for state prosecutors or judges. The Iowa Court of Appeals this week agreed with a Story County District Court that Risdal qualifies as a sexually violent predator.

Risdal was serving time for second- and third-degree sexual abuse convictions he received in1985. Just before his sentence was completed, the State moved to classify him as a sexually violent predator, which is defined as "a person who has been convicted of or charged with a sexually violent offense and who suffers from an abnormality which makes the person more likely to engage in predatory acts constituting sexually violent offenses, if not confined in a secure facility."

Risdal had confessed to sexual contact with at least one 15-year-old boy, and what he described as "consensual" activities with boys as young as 11. What's more, Risdal had founded a corporation he called "Mystery Boy, Inc.," which was dedicated to the reform and repeal of sex-abuse laws. He claimed to be a "professional sexologist with years of sexual study," and he openly admitted, under oath, that be believed sex between adults and kids is not harmful, and that in many cases, it is helpful to the child.

In one of the essays he wrote on the subject, Risdal opined, "Thousands of kids would die yearly from either murder, suicide, physical abuse, neglect, hunger if not for the concerned and caring pedophile."

Risdal fought the State's attempt to categorize him as sexually violent. Prosecutors, he said, lacked enough evidence to prove that he was attracted to adolescent boys "solely because of their chronological ages" or that his attraction was "pathological, disordered or abnormal," according to his appeal.

The State brought an expert witness, Dr. Dennis Doren, who had diagnosed Risdal with several mental abnormalities, including paraphilia (sexual arousal by someone other than a consenting adult), hebephilia (sexual attraction to adolescents) and a personality disorder that causes antisocial and narcissistic features. Both of these conditions, the doctor testified, made Risdal "more likely than not to commit sexually violent offenses."

Additionally, Risdal never underwent sex offender treatment and often had to be segregated from other inmates in prison, due to fighting and other disciplinary problems. Research shows that enrolling in such treatment tends to lower criminals' risk of reoffending.

Taken together, this information was enough to convince the Iowa Court of Appeals that Risdal needed supervision once he was released and should be labeled as "sexually violent."

Wrote appellate court judge Anuradha Vaitheswara, "Substantial other evidence was admitted to support the [Story County district court's] determination that Risdal was a sexually violent offender."

Sucks to be you

Name:
Troy Bresley

Location:
Des Moines

Posed for this picture because: Bresley is charged with first-degree murder for allegedly fatally stabbing his girlfriend, Tracy Davis. Davis was the mother of the then-4-year-old girl who was taken aside during a tour by State Capitol guide Stephen Lueder. The charges against Lueder were recently reduced from indecent contact to trespassing. The girl was reportedly at home when her mother was murdered.

Fake it to make it

The venerable fake ID almost has become an art form in and of itself, requiring a true craftsman to mimic the tricky holograms and fancy layering techniques many states now employ to foil phonies. As such, quality fakes sell for a premium. And the market just got a little tighter, thanks to the recent arrest of Erik Anders Svedin Jr., a 22-year-old Drake University frat boy who reportedly churned out a glut of fakes over a two-year period. If convicted, he faces prison time for his offenses. And 19-year-old sorority girls all over Iowa face a tougher time getting into dance clubs on Friday nights.

On the clock

1:25 a.m.
Stabbing in the 3000 block of Douglas Avenue. Police arrived to find a male victim who had sustained a stab wound in his back during an altercation. He stated that the suspect had escaped in a black SUV. The victim was taken to Mercy Hospital for minor injuries, while officers attempted to locate the suspect.

2:48 a.m.
Death investigation in the 1300 block of Seventh Street. Police responded to a call regarding a man trying to hang himself. Upon officers' arrival, medics were performing CPR on a male victim. A witness told police that the man had been using cocaine, and he had been worried about being caught by police after he stole a friend's purse. When the witness arrived at the scene, the man had already hung himself using a belt. He was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital.

4:30 a.m.
Sexual assault in the 533 block of 14th Street. Victim was walking to a convenience store when a male suspect grabbed her and tried to pull her into the stairwell of a nearby apartment building. He sexually assaulted her, stopping only when her screaming eventually scared him off. The woman was sent to Broadlawns for a rape examination.

5:40 p.m.
Robbery in the 1300 block of E. 14th Street. Witnesses at Medicap pharmacy reported that a female, wearing latex gloves and cut pantyhose over her face, and carrying a knife, entered the building and handed one employee a note that read, "all the 4 mg Hydromorphone and no one gets hurt." After the robbery, the suspect fled the scene in a green car. A similar incident occurred at a Medicap pharmacy about one month prior.

(Alleged) drunk drivers

Name: Mary Ann Mullen
Arrested: July 12
First offense

Name: Harry Walter Hager
Arrested: July 13
Second offense

Name: Yancey Diez Granillo
Arrested: July 7
Second offense

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