Gazette Daily News Briefing, September 6
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for September 6, 2023.
According to the National Weather Service it'll be mostly cloudy Wednesday in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 75 degrees. It will also be breezy with a northwest wind of 10 - 20 mph with gusts as high as 30 mph.
Two athletes being investigated for illegal sports betting now face felony identity theft charges, the most serious counts filed to date in the ongoing state investigation of gambling on Iowa campuses.
Eyioma Uwazurike, a former Iowa State University football player and current member of the National Football League’s Denver Broncos, and Paniro Johnson, a current Iowa State wrestler, each have been charged with Class D felony identity theft, according to court documents filed in Story County.
In Iowa, a Class D felony carries punishments of up to five years in jail and a fine of between $750 and $7,500. Uwazurike and Johnson also still face an earlier charge of tampering with records, an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by up to two years.
Both men have pleaded not guilty to both charges, and both are scheduled for separate jury trials at 9 a.m. Oct. 24 in Story County District Court.
The new identity theft charges, filed last week, allege Uwazurike and Johnson fraudulently used another person’s identifying information for their benefit in an amount exceeding $1,500. Court records in both men’s cases describe how they allegedly engaged with another individual to create accounts with sports betting companies and then placed bets from those accounts.
A Palo man accused of pushing an 8-year-old boy into a fire pit this weekend is also facing a trial on a charge that he assaulted his girlfriend in June.
According to a criminal complaint released Tuesday, the boy ran Saturday from the home that Christopher Wayne Maas, 42, was staying in on First Street in Palo. After reaching a nearby park, the boy told adults there that Maas, his mother’s boyfriend, had shoved him into a firepit, causing severe blistering to his face and shoulder.
The Linn County Sheriff’s Office said it was looking for Mass, and he turned himself in Sunday at to Cedar Rapids police, where deputies took custody.
Maas was charged with child endangerment causing serious injury. He was released from the Linn County Jail on Tuesday after posting a $5,300 surety bond and a promise to appear in court Sept. 11.
Maas also is facing a previous charge in Linn County Court of assault causing bodily injury in relation to a June incident. He is accused of assaulting his girlfriend by dragging her off a bed, causing her to hit the back of her head on a bench, and slamming a car door in her face after he tried to drag her out of the vehicle, according to a criminal complaint
Former President Donald Trump will be among the thousands in Ames on Saturday to watch the annual Cy-Hawk football game.
Trump's campaign announced Tuesday he would attend the game, but did not say whether the former president and current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination would hold any public events while in Ames.
Kickoff for the game between the University of Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones is set for 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium.
