Dickinson County, Iowa — A Hull businessman has pleaded guilty in Dickinson County to stealing newspapers and a political yard sign, according to the Dickinson County News newspaper.
From the Dickinson County News:
A series of minor thefts in early September had Lakes Area store clerks scratching their heads. Newspaper racks were empty. Storefront vending boxes were cleaned out, and copies of the Sept. 2 Dickinson County News were hard to come by just 24 hours after the weekly newspaper was distributed throughout the Iowa Great Lakes.
Area businesses reviewed their security footage, and Peter De Yager, owner of the Foreign Candy Company in Hull, was charged with fifth-degree theft.
De Yager had been caught on camera removing a stack of Dickinson County News editions without paying for them at around 12:49 p.m. Sept. 3 from the Jiffy station in Spirit Lake. De Yager had walked in, tucked the store’s supply of the newspaper inside one of the area’s free publications and left the store, according to store management — the criminal complaint said the stack of papers was valued at about $20. Management also told the Dickinson County News the store’s staff had been wondering why they and a number of other businesses along the area’s main highways were suddenly sold out of the Dickinson County News that day. Jiffy filed charges against the 70-year-old businessman Sept. 16, and De Yager pleaded guilty just shy of two weeks later. Iowa Third Judicial Associate Judge David Larson ordered the Hull businessman to pay a $105 fine for the crime, and the judge’s order indicated necessary restitution, if any, had yet to be determined.
For more on this story, visit the Dickinson County News.
Our thanks to the Dickinson County News for sharing this story.
Photo courtesy of the Dickinson County News.
