COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) – A mystery has resurfaced in Pottawattamie County and more vehicle owners are frustrated by a lack of answers.

Two years ago, 6 News exposed how old Iowa license plates turned into the treasurer a decade ago have been caught on speed cameras in New York City, most recently in April.

It’s been 12 years since Vern and Debra Harness turned in their Iowa license plates that recently showed up on a bumper in New York City.

“I’ve never been to New York City, and I’ve never had an inkling to go there,” Debra Harness said.

However, New York City Traffic citations have sure come to them. The NYC finance department sent threats of a civil judgement if the couple doesn’t pay $300 on four speeding tickets since April. All the citations on a van caught by a school zone camera with their old license plates.

“They don’t care, they just want us to pay these bills, and if we pay these bills, we are admitting that they’re still our plates and I’m not going to do that,” Debra said.

The Pottawattamie County Treasurer says there are about 40 vehicle owners in the same boat.

“Well, I hope it solves all of them,” Pottawattamie Co. Treasurer Lea Voss said. “This is just ridiculous what these people have gone through, and I’ve contacted everybody.”

The Harnesses say when they turned in those plates 12 years ago, they came off their pickup truck. Now, those same plates turned up on a white van in New York City and it shouldn’t take the world’s greatest detective those plates are on the wrong vehicle.

“It seems very simple, but they’re not being helpful at all,” Debra Harness said.

The New York speed camera caught the same van on the same street in less than a month, so innocent Iowans say undeserving fine notices can be averted by New York’s finest.

“Pull over the vehicle, detain them until they come up with why they got that plate,” Vern Harness said. “When, where, and why.”

That might help Iowa’s department of transportation investigation into how ole plates got new life in New York City, because for years Iowa Department of Corrections picked them up.

“I didn’t ask, I just assume they are going to recycle them.” Voss said.

The DoT Investigations Bureau Director says solving this ongoing issue has not been easy. He says unfortunately investigations have not been able to determine if the Iowa plates in New York are counterfeit, or actual plates issued in Iowa at one time. Multiple attempts to work with New York Law Enforcement will continue, as does the mystery for the Harnesses and many other Iowans who turned in plates, never expecting to see them again.

“If I turn mine in, I turn them into them but from now on they’ll be cut in half,” Vern Harness said.

In a positive development, Vern and Debra Harness got an email from the New York City Finance Department saying all the speeding citations against them have been dismissed. The treasurer hopes that others with undeserved fines will have the same outcome.

Copyright 2024 WOWT. All rights reserved.

WALCOTT, Iowa (KWQC) -Iowa 80 Truckstop is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2024 and will be hosting the 45th annual Trucker’s Jamboree from July 11-13 at the sprawling complex located off I-80 Exit 284, in Walcott, Iowa.

Truckers Jamboree will include an antique truck display, a super truck beauty contest, Iowa Porkchop cook out, and more.

Admission and parking are always free, the music concerts are free and the event features complimentary shuttles providing transportation from the parking area to the event grounds.

Country band Blackhawk will be this year’s headliner and will take the stage on July 12 at 7 p.m. Also performing on the main stage will be Royale Lynn, Shane Profit, Matt Stell, and the Dani Lynn Howe Band.

To check concert dates and times and the rest of the event schedule for the 45th annual Trucker’s Jamboree, visit www.truckersjamboree.com .

As for the venue, this year marks 60 consecutive years that Iowa 80 has been serving the professional driver and travelers in general. The facility currently serves over 5,000 customers per day and has well-lit parking spaces for 900 tractor-trailers, 250 cars and 20 buses.

Another way Iowa 80 Truckstop is celebrating is by sponsoring a $60,000 cash giveaway as well as other prizes. The Iowa 80 60th Anniversary Sweepstakes ends October 4, 2024. Get more information about how to participate at www.iowa80sweepstakes.com.

For more information about Iowa 80 Truckstop, visit the website at www.iowa80truckstop.com or find Iowa 80 on Facebook here.

Copyright 2024 KWQC. All rights reserved.

The State of Iowa has sanctioned a massage therapist whom it unwittingly licensed in 2018 despite a history of sex crimes.

The Iowa Board of Massage Therapy has issued a warning to Abelardo “AJ” Rodriguez of Iowa City and suspended his ability to practice for five years, after which he can apply for reinstatement.

The available public records show that last year the board issued an emergency order suspending the license of Rodriguez, citing a complaint from a female patient who alleged Rodriguez touched her inappropriately during an appointment.

The board also alleged that when Rodriguez applied for a massage-therapy license in 2018, he failed to voluntarily disclose his 2012 and 2016 criminal convictions for harassment.

Court records indicate that in September 2015, a woman complained to Iowa City police that Rodriguez had been sending her unwanted messages on Facebook, as well as “multiple lewd photos of himself.” On Nov. 30, 2015, he allegedly came into the victim’s place of employment and exposed himself to her on two different occasions. Court records indicate that the case resulted in Rodriguez pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of harassment.

According to the board, Rodriguez later obtained a massage therapy license from the state and began working at Rodriguez Bodywork in Iowa City.

During a massage appointment in March 2023, he allegedly massaged the breasts of a female client for 15 minutes without the woman’s consent. The board alleges that Rodriguez had previously told the woman he was certified in full chest and breast massage and presented her with a consent form to sign if she was interested in the service. The woman declined.

According to the board, Rodriguez later admitted to a board investigator that he massaged the woman’s breasts but said he did so with the woman’s oral consent. He allegedly stated that he had intended to get the woman’s written consent but neglected to do so.

It was when the woman’s subsequent complaint to the board was being investigated that the board concluded Rodriguez had intentionally withheld or misrepresented information about his past criminal convictions. The board said information about those crimes, if disclosed, “may have impacted his ability to become licensed” in Iowa as a massage therapist.

It’s not clear why the board didn’t learn of the criminal convictions in 2018 when Rodriguez applied for a license. The arrests are a matter of public record and details of at least one of the cases are readily available through Iowa Courts Online.

As a result of the 2023 allegations, Rodriguez was charged by the board with improper sexual contact with a client, engaging in unethical conduct, fraud in procuring a license and engaging in conduct that subverts or attempts to subvert a board investigation.

The board also concluded Rodriguez’s conduct posed “an immediate danger to the public health, safety, and welfare” and voted to impose an immediate, indefinite suspension of his license, pending a final decision in the case.

In five years, Rodriguez will be allowed to apply for reinstatement by showing the basis for “the revocation of his license” – board documents refer to the sanction as both a revocation and a suspension — no longer exists and that reinstatement is in the public interest.

Prior to any reinstatement, Rodriguez must undergo a psychosexual evaluation and comply with any recommendations for treatment or training.