ADEL, Iowa — The Dallas County Sheriff’s office said federal law enforcement agencies led a “large-scale law enforcement operation” in Polk and Dallas counties Wednesday morning.
Dallas County Chief Deputy Sheriff Adam Infante said the Dallas County Sheriff’s office was one of 16 agencies involved in the criminal investigation.
“The investigation was conducted jointly by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Iowa Department of Public Safety and numerous local agencies,” Infante said.
Infante said he could not discuss the object of the search warrants but that additional information is expected from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Iowa, which executed 43 federal search warrants in Des Moines, Windsor Heights, Clive, Waukee, West Des Moines and Adel as part of the yearlong investigation.
Mitch Henry of Des Moines said he woke about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday to “sounds of two percussion grenades going off. I looked out my north window and saw approximately 15 law enforcement vehicles, including an armored vehicle and several unmarked black SUVs and sedans with at least 25 police officers and ATF agents, most of them wearing camouflaged gear with automatic weapons in hand. A couple of German shepherds escorted the officers into the house during the raid.”
Henry said he saw activity at the residence for several hours.
“What was very sad,” he said, “is to see a young child maybe 5 or 6 walking out of the house three hours later to a woman waiting on the sidewalk in front of the house, with a ATF agent just watching as the child walked up to the woman with his hands reaching out. So sad.”
The federal search warrants were executed at the following locations in the Des Moines metropolitan area:
• 2000 block of Lay Street, Des Moines
• 1100 block of 21st Street, Des Moines
• 3000 block of Woodland Avenue, Des Moines
• 2400 block of Prospect Road, Des Moines
• 2200 block of Forest Avenue, Des Moines
• 1800 block of Glenbrook Drive, Des Moines
• 900 block of East Ovid Avenue, Des Moines
• 2300 block of East 39th Street, Des Moines
• 1100 block of 19th Street, Des Moines
• 100 block of Loomis Avenue, Des Moines
• 800 block of Payton Avenue, Des Moines
• 1600 block of Des Moines Street, Des Moines
• 1600 block of Hull Avenue, Des Moines
• 900 block of East Lacona Avenue, Des Moines
• 2100 block of East 13th Street, Des Moines
• 1500 block of University Avenue, Des Moines
• 2800 block of Fleur Drive, Des Moines
• 2200 block of 68th Street, Windsor Heights
• 500 block of Grandview Avenue, Des Moines
• 700 block of 13th Street, West Des Moines
• 1900 block of Martin Luther King, Jr. Parkway, Des Moines
• 2900 block of East 36th Street, Des Moines
• 4600 block of Hubbell Avenue, Des Moines
• 6500 block of Chaffee Road, Des Moines
• 2600 block of Northwest 165th Lane, Clive
• 500 block of Pleasant View Drive, Des Moines
• 2600 block of East Sheridan Avenue, Des Moines
• 2000 block of 63rd Street, Windsor Heights
• 1500 block of 20th Place, Des Moines
• 700 block of 27th Street, Des Moines
• 3000 block of Southeast 19th Street, Des Moines
• 6200 block of Southeast 5th Street, Des Moines
• 1500 block of 13th Street, Des Moines
• 1400 block of Merle Hay Road, Des Moines
• 3200 block of Cornell Street, Des Moines
• 1100 block of Clark Street, Des Moines
• 1000 block of 13th Street, Des Moines
• 2400 block of Hickman Road, Des Moines
• 1900 block of King Avenue, Des Moines
• 1400 block of Richmond Avenue, Des Moines
• 200 block of East Edison Avenue, Des Moines
• 600 block of 2nd Street, Waukee
• 1500 block of Greene Street, Adel
The officers, agents and investigators involved in the action were drawn from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Des Moines Police Department, Iowa Division of Narcotics Enforcement, Iowa State Patrol, Mid-Iowa Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, Tri-County Task Force, Central Iowa Drug Task Force, Mid-Iowa Drug Task Force, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, Altoona Police Department, West Des Moines Police Department, Urbandale Police Department, Marshalltown Police Department, Dallas County Sheriff’s office and Iowa State Fire Marshal.
