• Dustin M. Whitson, 34, of Newton was charged with operating while under influence (first offense) after being pulled over by police May 1 near the 600 block of First Avenue East. At approximately 10:54 p.m., Newton Police Department was on active patrol near the 100 block of West Second Street North when they noticed a vehicle traveling westbound on First Avenue turn north onto First Street North with a non-functioning headlight. Officers turned around and attempted to catch up to the vehicle, noticing it had a non-functioning brake light and non-functioning license plate lights. Police initiated a traffic stop and made contact with the driver, identified as Whitson. Officers noticed a strong odor of a consumed alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle. Whitson submitted to standardized field sobriety tests and, according to police reports, failed all three. Whitson then submitted to a preliminary breath test and data master, which indicated he had a breath alcohol content of 0.214 percent. The legal limit in Iowa is 0.08 percent. Whitson told police he believed he was guilty and drank too much alcohol to operate a motor vehicle.
• Ashley N. Reed, 39, of Newton was arrested at 12:32 a.m. May 6 near the 600 block of South Third Avenue East on three Jasper County warrants for failure to appear. Reed was then taken to jail.
• Kyle E. Chance, 36, of Newton was arrested at 11:11 p.m. May 6 near the 200 block of East 19th Street North on two Jasper County warrants for probation violations. Chance’s original charges were forgery and domestic assault. Chance was then taken to jail.
• Dan E. Schwabe, 54, of Newton was charged with driving while barred after being pulled over by police May 3 near the 500 block of West Third Street South. At approximately 12:03 a.m., Newton Police was on active patrol when officers noticed a pickup truck with a non-functioning third brake light. Police initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle and asked the driver for his license registration and insurance. According to police reports, Schwabe told officers, “I don’t have a license. I’m barred.” Police confirmed this and took Schwabe into custody.
• Sarah L. Sistern, 44, of Newton was charged with operating while under the influence (first offense) after being pulled over by police April 30 near the 200 block of North Second Avenue East. At approximately 8:30 p.m., Newton Police conducted patrol in the 200 block of First Street North. Police observed a vehicle traveling east on North Second Avenue run a stop sign. Upon conducting a traffic stop, the officer noticed the driver had watery bloodshot eyes and slurred speech and could also detect the strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from the vehicle. Upon completing the standard field sobriety tests and preliminary breath test, Sistern was placed under arrested for operating while intoxicated.