Iowa
Iowa student’s passport seizure in Dominican Republic raises red flags for Americans traveling: What to know
The seizing of an Iowa college student’s passport while under investigation in the Dominican Republic is a cautionary tale for Americans traveling abroad, who an expert said should be vigilant about protecting their travel documents.
Last month, 22-year-old Joshua Riibe’s passport and cellphone were confiscated as investigators tried to piece together missing spring breaker Sudiksha Konanki’s final moments. Hotel surveillance footage revealed Riibe was among the last people to see Konanki alive before the University of Pittsburgh student disappeared on a Punta Cana beach after a night of drinking with friends.
After Konanki’s disappearance, Riibe, who authorities said was never a suspect, was holed up inside the Riu Republica Hotel under the watch of local authorities.
Riibe, a student at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, remained in the Dominican Republic, unable to travel back to America, for approximately two weeks before he was able to head home.
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Joshua Riibe arrives at a Dominican Republic courthouse on March 18, 2025. (Fox News Digital)
The high-profile debacle came to a head inside a Dominican courtroom, as Riibe sat alongside his father and a translator while lawyers argued over the conditions of Riibe’s hotel room detainment. The issue surrounding the return of Riibe’s passport was scheduled for a later date, potentially forcing Riibe to remain in the country for a second court appearance.
“Ever since my passport was taken, it’s very rare I’m alone,” Riibe testified before a Dominican judge. He later added, “I can’t go anywhere. I really want to be home. Hug my family and friends.”
While Riibe’s lawyers had said his passport was confiscated, prosecutors argued that he lost it.
Following the initial court proceedings, Riibe was able to obtain a provisional passport from the U.S. Consulate in the Dominican Republic.
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Sudiksha Konanki went missing from a Punta Cana beach in the early hours of March 6. (Fox News Digital/Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office)
On March 19, Riibe boarded a JetBlue flight from Santo Domingo to San Juan, Puerto Rico, marking the end of his nightmare abroad. However, Riibe’s escape hit a brief snag when he was held in Puerto Rico over the new passport not being properly stamped, NotiCentro reported.
Last week, a Dominican judge ruled to officially close Riibe’s case, granting the habeas corpus motion filed on behalf of the key witness.
“On March 18th, following the conclusion of the habeas corpus hearing that ordered the release of our client, Joshua Riibe, the Prosecutor’s Office of La Altagracia informed him of their readiness to return his passport,” Riibe’s attorneys said. “While Joshua appreciated this decision, he chose, for privacy reasons, to apply for a new passport at the U.S. Consulate, which was promptly issued.”
Although Riibe was able to obtain a replacement passport and subsequently return home, his experience serves as a warning for Americans who may be asked to hand over their passport for a multitude of reasons while in another country.
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Local authorities search for missing U.S. student Sudiksha Konanki in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Konanki, 20, was last seen on March 6 on a beach outside the five-star RIU Republica Resort in the Dominican Republic. (Santiago Baez for Fox News Digital)
Travelers could be asked to forfeit their passport or other identifying documents by foreign law enforcement or as collateral while enjoying an excursion, according to Kate Gladdin, an expert in international travel safety.
“The reality is there are some bad fruits out there that see tourists and can very quickly get [them] in a vulnerable position because they don’t have their government,” Gladdin told Fox News Digital.
“One thing I can say, flat out, is to never hand your passport over as a form of deposit, ever,” Gladdin said. “There are stories where they’re like, ‘Oh, you want to hire this jet ski? OK, we can take your passport just as a deposit that you’ll come back.’ Do not [do it]. Put it in your safe and leave it there until [the end of your trip].”
The risk of forfeiting identifying documents is an issue that hits close to home for Gladdin.
In 2012, Gladdin’s sister, Nicole Fitzsimons, was killed in a motorbike accident while vacationing in Thailand with her boyfriend, Jamie Keith.
Fitzsimons, 24, was riding on the back of the bike when a driver riding on the wrong side of the road careened into the couple’s vehicle.
“She [was rushed] into surgery,” Gladdin told Fox News Digital. “We had all our hearts and toes and fingers crossed that she was going to be OK, but unfortunately we did lose her in that surgery.”
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Nicole Fitzsimons and Jamie Keith pose for a photo while visiting Thailand in 2012. (Courtesy of Kate Gladdin)
But Fitzsimons’ death wasn’t the end of the nightmare for the grieving family.
Keith’s Australian passport was seized by Thai authorities, ultimately barring him from leaving as the investigation remained ongoing.
“Unfortunately, the police tried to see it differently and put us in a really uncomfortable, hard and challenging situation where they took Jamie’s passport,” Gladdin said. “There was no justice in Nicole’s death.”
Gladdin also suggests vacationers carry copies of their identification documents, in the event their belongings are lost or stolen.
“Every country is different,” Gladdin said. “You have to take your safety into your own hands, because the rules might not always be there. But without those rules, we are without protection.”
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Nicole Fitzsimons and Kate Gladdin pose for a photo at their brother’s wedding in 2011. (Courtesy of Kate Gladdin)
The family’s fight to bring Keith home, while also grappling with the death of Fitzsimons, led Gladdin down a path of teaching parents how to instill travel safety habits in their families.
“Travel is one of the most eye-opening things we can do,” Gladdin said. “But help them make educated choices. I’m not against travel, but I’m for educated travel.”
Gladdin also points parents toward federal resources aimed at keeping Americans safe while traveling abroad. The State Department’s Smart Traveler Enrollment Program provides vacationers with the opportunity to register their trips with the government, in the event something goes wrong.
“[Officials] can quickly update and get in contact with you regarding any safety or security information – whether it’s like an impending cyclone or a terrorist threat – that they need to get you out of a country quickly, if they know you’re there,” Gladdin said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment.
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Gladdin’s passion for travel safety and educating parents was born from tragedy, but she insists it does not have to be that way for other families.
“Lying on the floor of my sister’s closet, choosing out her funeral dress rather than helping to choose her wedding dress – there are no positives in that,” Gladdin told Fox News Digital. “I think finding purpose in what you’re going through, [by] leaning towards problems that are surrounding you and [finding] what you can do to help solve them. My family created a purpose in Nicole’s death by looking at the problem of travel safety and doing whatever we could to solve it.”
Fox News Digital’s Michael Ruiz and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
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Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.
House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.
Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.
“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”
Here’s what to know about the bill.
What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?
Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.
That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.
All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.
Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.
Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.
And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.
If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.
Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.
Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.
“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”
Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.
“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”
Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says
A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.
- FY 2027: $33 million
- FY 2028: $66 million
- FY 2029: $99 million
- FY 2030: $132 million
- FY 2031: $164.9 million
The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.
“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”
The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.
As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.
The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.
But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.
“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”
Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”
“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”
Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law
The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”
Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.
Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.
It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.
“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”
Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”
“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.
Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”
And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”
“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”
House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.
That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.
Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings
Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.
The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:
- The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
- The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
- The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
- The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
- The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
- The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
- The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket
The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.
The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.
And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.
Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.
A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.
His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.
They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.
They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.
His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.
Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.
The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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