Northwest Iowa — A search warrant was executed at a Sheldon residence Tuesday morning in connection with a multi-county string of burglaries across northwest Iowa.
The search warrant executed at 405 Pine Street, #31 in Sheldon produced some items of evidentiary value, according to Sheldon Police Chief Lyle Bolkema, but the Chief says no charges were filed as a direct result of the Sheldon search warrant.
The Sheldon search warrant came out of the investigation into a string of burglaries in which similar methods were used in 14 jurisdictions in northwest Iowa. The similarities were uncovered following a string of 21 business burglaries in Storm Lake. Storm Lake Police, working in conjunction with the Region I Law Enforcement Intelligence Network, which is made up of 41 law enforcement agencies in northwest Iowa, expanded the investigation.
Assistant Storm Lake Police Chief Todd Erskin says the investigation eventually linked 23-year old Torian Vaughan, Jr. of Pocahontas, Iowa, to acquaintances and residences in a variety of communities that were experiencing similar business burglaries. Subsequently, Erskin says the Iowa DCI Crime Lab forensically linked Vaughan to one of the Storm Lake business burglaries. Erskin says that surveillance of Vaughan showed he was staying in Creston, Iowa, and Tuesday morning (May 3rd) Storm Lake Police Department officers, assisted by the Creston Police Department, the Union County Sheriff’s Department, and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation arrested Vaughan in Creston without incident, on a charge of 3rd Degree Burglary, a Class D Felony.
Erskin says that, simultaneous to Vaughan’s arrest, the search warrant was served on the Sheldon residence, as well as on locations in Creston and Pocahontas, where additional evidence was seized.
At last report, Vaughan was being held in the Buena Vista County Jail in Storm Lake on a $25,000 bond.
Erskin, and Sheldon Police Chief Lyle Bolkema, both say that the investigations are ongoing, and analysis of evidence by the DCI Crime Lab is continuing.