Two guilty pleas and three trials set in small town Iowa scandal
Mary Staton
Posted: Mar 1, 2021 1:46 PM
Posted By: Mike Bunge
ESTHERVILLE, Iowa – Two guilty pleas have been entered and three trials are set in the scandal involving city finances in the small town of Armstrong.
City clerk Tracie Lang has pleaded guilty to falsifying public documents and former city clerk Mary Staton has pleaded guilty to 3rd degree theft. No sentencing dates have been set.
Greg Buum (left), Tracie Lang, Connie Thackery (right)
Craig Merrill
Armstrong Mayor Greg Buum, Police Chief Craig Merril, and former city clerk Connie Thackery have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them and are set for trial on May 4 in Emmet County District Court.
Updated: 6:51 AM CST Feb 24, 2021 An Iowa mayor who is among a slew of town officials charged with a string of felonies and misdemeanors in a city embezzlement case has resigned his post.Armstrong Mayor Greg Buum, 69, submitted his written resignation Monday night at a City Council meeting, the Des Moines Register reported. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has charged Buum, the town’s police chief, its city clerk and two former clerks in an alleged plot to loot the city coffers. Buum also is charged with misusing a saw from the town’s volunteer fire department to benefit his private carpentry business. He and the others which include police chief Craig Merrill, city clerk Tracie Lang and former city clerks Connie Thackery and Mary Staton were arrested earlier this month. Buum is free on $67,000 bond.Armstrong is a community of 900 people located near Iowa’s border with Minnesota and is about 40 miles from the popular Okoboji vacation area in the state’s nor
Bond set for 5 Armstrong, IA officials charged with fraud and theft
Unmute
Mayor Greg Buum (right), City Clerk Tracie Lang (middle) and former City Clerk Connie Thackery (left) are charged with several felonies and misdemeanors after a long investigation uncovered embezzlement and other offenses.
Former city clerk Mary Kate Staton is charged with theft in the third degree and tampering with records, both misdemeanors.
Armstrong, Iowa Police Chief Craig Merrill was arrested in a Minnesota town, just over the border from the the town where he was employed.
ARMSTRONG, Iowa (KTIV) - Three current, and two former city officials in Armstong, Iowa, face charges following a multi-year investigation into alleged wrongdoing. Many of them have had their bond set and one has already paid theirs.