Compiled by Bethany Kohoutek bethany@dmcityview.com

By the numbers

2005 crime statistics for Iowa’s three state universities

Iowa State University
Ames total population: 52,263
ISU student enrollment: 25,741
Murder: 0
Forcible sex offenses: 6
Robbery: 2
Aggravated assault: 11
Burglary: 38
Motor vehicle theft: 3
Arson: 9
Liquor law violations: 204
Drug/narcotic violations: 67
Weapons law violations: 0

University of Iowa
Iowa City total population: 62,887
U of I student enrollment: 29,642
Murder: 0
Forcible sex offenses: 5
Robbery: 2
Aggravated assault: 16
Burglary: 40
Motor vehicle theft: 4
Arson: 4
Liquor law violations: 296
Drug abuse violations: 190
Weapons law violations: 4

University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls total population: 36,471
Student enrollment: 12,513
Murder: 0
Forcible sex offenses: 5
Robbery: 0
Aggravated assault: 1
Burglary: 5
Motor vehicle theft: 0
Arson: 6
Liquor law violations: 113
Drug law violations: 24
Weapons law violations: 1

(Information collected from each university’s registrar and campus police/security department.)

Docket diving

Cheryl Lange grew suspicious when she noticed oddities in her elderly aunt’s bank accounts. Lange took control of her aunt Ann Hromatko’s finances after Hromatko suffered a stroke in June of 2002. Hromatko was a widow, and the stroke had affected her memory and her ability to keep track of her personal accounts.

Lange’s suspicions were solid enough that the Iowa Insurance Division and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation decided to launch an investigation. They concluded that Hromatko’s financial consultant, Terry Frey, had methodically bilked Hromatko out of thousands of dollars over the course of four years.

Among the evidence they collected: Frey was the sole signatory on an account labeled “Old Nevada Financial, Inc.,” which was created with $50,000 that Hromatko suddenly withdrew from her life insurance annuity in September of 1998. Frey wrote checks to himself from the account, then deposited the money into his personal checking account. He spent $25,000 of it for his futures trading account, and the remaining $25,000 on “business and personal expenses,” according to court documents.

During the same month, Hromatko wrote a personal check to Frey for $27,309. The money ended up in his checking account and again, was used for “business and personal expenses.”

Frey wasn’t finished. In March of 2000, Frey emptied out the remainder of Hromatko’s annuity — $117,462. The check from Hromatko’s insurance provider was made out to Hromatko, but it, too, wound up in Frey’s checking account.

After a long investigation, Frey was charged with ongoing criminal conduct, money laundering and second-degree theft. The criminal conduct and laundering charges were for his dealings with Hromatko; he picked up the theft charge when he apparently worked over another of his clients.

Frey, now 51 years old, was convicted by a Linn County jury and sentenced to 25 years in prison, which he is currently serving at the Newton Correctional Facility. He recently appealed the decision, arguing that state prosecutors did not have enough evidence to convict him. At his trial, Frey told the court that Hromatko had willingly agreed to the amounts he withdrew from her various accounts as payment for his “financial advice.”

The jury didn’t buy it, and neither did the Iowa Court of Appeals last week when it reviewed the case.

“We find substantial evidence in the record to show Frey misappropriated funds from Hromatko and Burgardt” — the other client from whom Frey took money — “on a continuing basis,” the justices wrote. “...Frey’s actions were also made for his financial gain.”

As for money laundering, the appellate court noted the Frey had apparently taken pains to funnel the money around to various accounts of his own before actually using it, perhaps indicating his desire to cover his tracks.

The record does not indicate whether Hromatko or her family ever recovered any of the money taken by Frey.

20 : percentage by which Iowa’s state prisons are currently overcrowded

SUCKS TO BE YOU

Name: Michael J. Wellendorf

Location: Polk County Jail

Posed for this picture because: During a routine traffic stop at N.E. 14th Street and N.E. Aurora, authorities pulled over Michael Wellendorf. Turned out, Wellendorf was driving on a revoked license, and a search of his person turned up “two smoking devices, two small bundles of illegal substances” — later determined to be meth and pot — “and a spring-activated locking knife.” After the deputies read Wellendorf his Miranda rights and arrested him, he admitted that he was taking the meth to his mother’s house — in order to prove to her that he was trying to kick the habit.

(ALLEGED) DRUNK DRIVERS

Name: Jerry Lowe
Date: Oct. 20
Third offense

Name: Emerson Lee Strayhorn
Date: Oct. 19
Third or subsequent offense

Name: Jeffrey Alan Ostergaard
Date: Oct. 19
Third or subsequent offense

ON THE CLOCK

Des Moines Police – Oct. 30

5:26 p.m.
Criminal mischief in the 1100 block of E. Sheridan. A man parked his 2003 Ford Focus on the street around noon, and when he returned four hours later, he saw a small hole and cracks in the driver’s side window. When he opened the car door, the window shattered and the glass fell out. He did not witness any suspicious persons near the vehicle.

6:20 p.m.
Criminal mischief in the 3200 block of Second. A woman was asleep in her home when she heard her front storm door shatter. She looked outside and saw a group of kids running away. She was not able to get descriptions of the kids or of what they were wearing.

7:09 p.m.
Criminal mischief in the 2500 block of Hubbell. The victim parked his car in a parking space at K-Mart next to a black Jeep Cherokee with a female inside. The female was visibly angry because she believed the victim had parked too close. The victim said he had parked within the marked lines. He went inside the store, and when he returned, he found that his car had been keyed and his tire was deflated. He failed to get a license-plate number for the Jeep.

7:15 p.m.
Discharge of firearm in the 3100 block of Army Post. “Numerous callers” phoned the Des Moines Police Department to report an injured deer in the roadway. When officers arrived, the animal was in traffic. With the approval of a supervisor, one officer shot the deer. A man on the scene requested the carcass, so police arranged for him to receive a salvage tag. He took the carcass from the scene.

8:45 p.m.
Simple assault in the 1200 block of Garfield. During an argument, a son punched his mother and left the house. The mother was uninjured, but wanted to press charges, according to police reports, so she followed him in her car. The son called police to report that his mother was tailing him and was attempting to hit him. The mother eventually went home and called 911 to report the incident. The son was transported to the juvenile detention center.

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