Allamakee County Attorney Anthony Gericke offers update following his first term in office
Reflects on past year of court cases and other matters, offers insight into increase in extortion incidents, fence line disputes
by Anthony J. Gericke
Allamakee County Attorney
Having completed my first term as Allamakee County Attorney and gotten through all the difficulties that the Covid era brought to us all, I felt an update to the county on the current state of this office was warranted. It has been a busy time cleaning up the court docket, specifically, the trial calendar this past year.
In February, Felty Yoder was sentenced after jury trial to 45 years in prison. He was convicted of four counts of sexual abuse, five counts of violating the sex offender registry and one count of domestic abuse assault.
In April, Greg Winter was found guilty of driving while license barred-habitual offender. After jury trial he was given a 90-day suspended sentence.
In September, Ryan Troendle was given a 365-day sentence with 137 days credit for time served after being found guilty of assault by a jury. Mr. Troendle is currently being held at the Allamakee County jail awaiting a probation revocation hearing.
In October, Andrew Karvel was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment for murder in the 2nd degree after being found guilty at trial.
In December, Dillon Heiller was found guilty by a jury of theft in the 1st degree and theft in the 2nd degree. A second jury trial was held the first week of January, 2024 and Mr. Heiller was found guilty of theft 2nd degree. He faces 20 years in prison and is currently being held in the Allamakee County jail awaiting sentencing.
We were also able to complete all of the necessary paperwork to complete the transition of the hospital from City to County ownership. I am happy to report that all of the necessary deeds have been filed with the Recorder’s office. Thank you to the Waukon City Attorney’s office for all their help in pushing this process forward.
The County recently began receiving payments under the class action opioid settlement that was negotiated by the State. A recent round of funding was approved to allocate $4,500 for local DARE programs. Lansing, Postville and Waukon police departments, through Jean Bossom, Allamakee County Director of Prevention Services, will all receive $1,500 this year to put towards education and drug prevention at our local schools.
This summer, I had an opportunity to attend classes at the National Computer Forensics Institute in Hoover, AL under a program sponsored by the Secret Service. It was specialized training in the gathering of evidence and prosecution of crimes related to digital evidence. With the massive increase in smart phone technology over the past 15 years, preservation of pictures, texts and other types of phone records has become a new area of law enforcement and prosecution.
This was the second part of a program that I first attended in 2020. I am hopeful that the information I learned and further training of local law enforcement can be the launching pad for a digital forensics lab in Allamakee County.
There are two subjects that have been issues for both myself and the sheriff’s office this year that I would like to make people aware of. The first, is the issue of extortion. We have had four reported cases this year where adult age men have sent nude photos of themselves via social networks such as Snapchat. They have then been contacted by the receiving party demanding money in order to avoid having the photos forwarded on to friends, family, schools, employers, etc.
Please know, that these activities originate in places like India and the Philippines. Neither our office nor the sheriff’s office has any ability to stop these pictures from being forwarded. Once you make the decision to send these types of photos to a stranger on social media, there is very little we can do to help you. Please be aware and take appropriate measures.
The second subject is fence line disputes. Our office and the sheriff’s office have had to deal with an escalated number of calls for neighbors who can’t seem to keep their fences in order. First, I will not, nor will the sheriff’s office, file criminal charges against anyone because a fence is found to be in disrepair or on the wrong side of a property line.
Talk to your neighbor first - in a neighborly way. Try to meet them halfway and solve the problem rather than escalate it. Resolving this on your own is in your own best interest. Once my office is involved, the township trustees are required to make a fence viewing on your property and render a decision. You have now involved your neighbors and the County in a dispute between two individuals.
If the decision is not in your favor and you fail to comply with the trustees order, you may be held in contempt. You will also still be legally and financially liable for fixing the fence. Talk to your neighbor. Work it out.
