Tactical team executes warrant on FM home

BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - Members of area law enforcement shut down part of the 600 block of 5th Street after police stopped a vehicle in the 1000 block of Avenue F and arrested a Keokuk man.

According to Lee County Narcotics Task Force Director Chad Donaldson, a vehicle was stopped on Avenue F Monday morning and that investigation led to a search warrant being executed on 5th Street.

As a result of the search, which involved officers from the Fort Madison Police Department, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Lee County Special Response Team, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, and Lee County Narcotics Task Force, one Keokuk man was arrested, and several others were detained and questioned.

Benjamin Mitchell, 37, of Keokuk, was arrested in the 1000 Block of Ave. F and charged with one count of Aiding & Abetting to Deliver of more than 5 grams of Methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a Public Park, a Class B Felony; two counts of Delivery of Less than 5 grams of Methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of a Public Park, each a Class D Felony with enhancements; Maintaining a Drug House, an Aggravated Misdemeanor; Possession of Controlled Substance-Methamphetamine, a Serious Misdemeanor; and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a Simple Misdemeanor.

The arrest of Mitchell stems from an ongoing investigation by the Lee County Narcotics Task Force into the delivery of methamphetamine within the Lee County area.

Several additional charges for multiple suspects are pending.

The Lee County Attorney’s Office assisted the Lee County Narcotics Task Force in this investigation. The defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The Lee County Narcotics Task Force is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Justice and the funds administered by the Iowa Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy.

Mitchell is arrested on a suspicion of a crime and presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.