Compiled by Bethany Kohoutek bethany@dmcityview.com

Dispatcher: 911...

D: Hello?
Caller: [provides address]
D: What's going on there?
C: Uh, I just arrived home from work and found the house here had been broken into.
D: Has anybody been through the house yet?
C: Uh, I have. I mean, there doesn't seem to be anyone here, if that's what you're asking...
D: Do you have any idea what time this might have occurred at, what timeframe?
C: No, I have no idea, because I've been away at work, and I'm the only one here.
D: OK, we'll get a deputy right out.
C: Great, thanks.
D: Alright. Bye-bye.

Officer's Report: [The victim] reported that when he came home from work he found that his home had been burglarized. He indicated that... there is not much personal property in the residence. A windowpane on the side (west) door had been broken in (there was broken glass on the interior floor), giving access to the deadbolt lock from the inside (which contained the key). [The victim] initially reported that the only item disturbed was a small blue bag containing toiletry items. This bag had been dumped on the bed, and the bag was missing. Also missing were 2 "Gas-X" tablets and "Sufedrine" tablets, both nonprescription. [The victim] indicated that nothing else appeared disturbed, damaged or missing. (His television and VCR were both present.) Later, [the victim] reported that two cameras were missing, along with a leather jacket. [The victim] indicated that he had access to one camera serial number and would contact the sheriff's office with that information. [The victim] indicated that he knew of no witnesses and has no suspects. [He] indicated that he understood that it was unlikely that his property would be recovered and or the thief identified.

Docket diving

Kerri Coiner was 17 years old when she began dating Adam Donald Musser in the summer of 2002. Musser, of Iowa City, was good-looking and "sweet," she would later say, and the two eventually got serious. They began having sex - at first using condoms religiously, but shrugging it off sometimes as the relationship progressed. Things were going well until Coiner began hearing rumors that Musser was HIV positive. When she confronted him about it, however, he brushed it off as hearsay, and convinced her it was untrue.

What Coiner didn't know was that only two months prior, Musser had met another woman, identified in court documents only as "S.S.," at a friend's house one evening. S.S. and Musser hit it off and eventually ended up in a bedroom. Neither of the two had a condom, so S.S. asked Musser if he "had anything" - meaning sexually transmitted diseases - and he assured her he was clean. Later, a friend told S.S. that Musser was HIV positive. At first, he denied the accusation, but then left a message on S.S.' answering machine, saying that he "felt bad for what he had done and he felt suicidal about it." S.S. called the police.

Coiner, meanwhile, knew nothing about S.S.' experiences with Musser until he was arrested in January 2003. His charge? Criminal transmission of HIV, after state health records revealed that Musser had known he was HIV-positive since 2000. In fact, he was taking medication for the virus when he slept with S.S., and later, with Coiner.

By April 2004, S.S., Coiner and two other Johnson County women had come forward with allegations that Musser had not told them about his HIV-positive status before engaging them in sex. Iowa law requires anyone with HIV or AIDS to inform partners before a sexual act.

Musser was found guilty and sentenced him to 50 years in state prison. He appealed, claiming that his punishment was "cruel and unusual." He also charged that Iowa's HIV-notification law infringed on his First Amendment rights and violated his right to privacy.

The case climbed all the way to Iowa's Supreme Court, where justices rejected his appeals. They wrote, "Just like the robber carrying a gun or a knife, a defendant infected with HIV is armed with a dangerous virus capable of inflicting serious injury or death on the victim. In view of the gravity of the offense, we cannot say a twenty-five-year sentence for the criminal transmission of HIV appears grossly disproportionate."

At least one of the victims tested negative for the virus. Two others remain anonymous, and their status is unknown. Coiner, on the other hand, spoke publicly when she learned that she had contracted HIV from her encounter with Musser (who is now 25). "I think of him every day," Coiner later told a TV reporter. "I have to face the fact that I have HIV, and I have it from him."

Sucks to be you

Name: Joseph John Hale
Arrested: Aug. 8
Posed for this picture because: Hale admitted to getting into a verbal fight with a woman at Park Fair Mall, after she "parked too close" to his 2005 GMC Sierra truck. He admitted to calling her a "dumb bitch" and to throwing a soda can and quarters at her car. But he denied following her out of the lot, rear-ending her, and ramming her car out into traffic at an intersection. Police arrested Hale after they saw damage to the front of his truck and noticed that the bracket around his license plate read "Allen Cadillac," in standout lettering. Hale's alleged victim had the imprint of the word "Cadillac" embossed backwards, imprinted on her damaged rear bumper.

Getting punchy

On Aug. 8, Des Moines police were dispatched to the 100 block of Tonawonda, to perform a welfare check on a white female. When they arrived, officers found the woman sitting on the floor in her darkened living room. It was "immediately apparent" that she was intoxicated, according to police, as she was "babbling incoherently" and "reeked of an alcoholic beverage." The woman requested medical attention, but when a care worker arrived, she punched him in the stomach when he attempted to help her put on her shoes. Police placed the woman into custody and transported her to Broadlawns, where she refused medical treatment. She was then transported to Polk County Jail on a simple assault charge.

On the clock

Des Moines Police - Aug. 9

12:26 a.m.
Robbery in the 1100 block of 25th Street. A Drake University student and his female companion contacted police after they reportedly were robbed by a male suspect, who demanded a purse and wallet. When the male victim replied that he did not have a wallet, the suspect took the female victim's purse and both victims' cell phones. He fled southbound on foot.

2:15 a.m.
Assault in the 1200 block of E. 26th Court. The victim reported that members of the "East Side Riders" tried to start trouble at the house he was visiting. The victim claimed that several of the 20 to 25 suspects assaulted him with metal pipes, and left only when someone threatened to call police. Officers who responded were told that the fight broke out over a "teenage love triangle."

4:53 a.m.
Assault in the 1100 block of Keo Way. Police responded to a female victim who claimed she was groped while riding a bus to Des Moines. She said she was sleeping on the bus and awoke to find that the man in the seat behind her was touching her breast. The suspect claims he was sleeping until the bus lights were suddenly turned on, and the driver asked him to switch seats. The suspect waited for the next bus. There were no witnesses.

(Alleged) drug dealers

Name: Christina Marie Wright
Arrested: Aug. 2
Possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine

Name: Kevin Ray Mogle
Arrested: July 29
Possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine

Name: Kenneth Lamar Holmes
Arrested: July 25
Conspiracy to deliver crack-cocaine

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