The Criminal Welfare-Industrial Complex In Johnson County

Kristle Harris of Iowa City was recently arrested for breaking her 15 month old daughter's arm, and then was busted for exposing her children to marijuana and cocaine.

Kristle has been in trouble with the law before, being busted for drugs, having a gun and a bulletproof vest in 2009.

The interesting aspect of this story is what newspapers initially report and then add in later editions.  The story printed in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on Saturday had this extra chunk of information:

Police previously had contact with Harris in August 2009, when she and another woman were arrested for drug-related activity, Harris was charged with interference with official acts and possession of marijuana while her two children, 3 years old and 3 weeks old at the time, were in the apartment at 1053 Cross Park Ave. She pleaded guilty to the possession charge the following month, according to online court records.

Harris' latest altercation with police could endanger her chances on receiving assisted housing as well, said Steve Rackis, director of the Iowa City Housing Authority. She was terminated from the Housing Choice Voucher program in September 2009 and is ineligible until October 2012, he said.

"The recent arrested can also impact future assistance because we conduct a National Criminal Background check looking back five years," Rackis said in an email. "If an applicant is denied on a drug charge, they are subject to a three-year period of ineligibility."

In the Friday story's online comments is this curious note by "Sparky Malone":

814 Benton #13 is owned by HACAP.

How did [Kristle] come to be living in this unit? What kind of background check was done on her before she received the apartment

As we can easily verify, 814 Benton #13 in Iowa City is owned by HACAP (Hawkeye Area Community Action Program Inc).

So in 2009, Kristle was living at 1053 Cross Park in Iowa City and getting a housing voucher through the City of Iowa City's Housing Choice Voucher Program, of which Steve Rackis is the Housing Administrator.

Kristle is forced out of the City of Iowa City's Housing Choice Voucher program due to the conviction on the drug charges and proceeds to walk over to HACAP where she is apparently accepted into their Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.

The question now is:  How come Kristle Harris was living in an apartment owned by HACAP?  Isn't HACAP forced to do a background check?

The great thing about living in Iowa is that we the public can easily perform a background check of Kristle Harris, at least concerning her past criminal behavior in Iowa thanks to the Iowa Court Search trial court web site.  Let's do that right now.

• 06521  AGCR092584 - 11/19/10 - Child Endangerment
  
• 06521  FECR081799 - created 12/17/2007, disposed 12/18/2008 - Forgery count (not filed, Judge Kristin Hibbs), Theft 4th Degree (Dismissed - Judge Douglas S Russell), Unauthorized Use Of Credit Card <$10,000 (Guilty, $750 fine, 2 years probation, Judge Nancy Baumgartner), but the probation is later extended to 3 years and then it's a 5 year suspended prison sentence by Judge Robert Sosalla, which appears to be because of a violation of probation charge by Judge Nancy Baumgartner which merits a guilty charge and no additional sentence.  In other words, Kristle Harris was originally arrested for forgery and unauthorized use of a credit card for more than $1000, but got the forgery charge dropped, fined $750, violated her probation, and then got a suspended sentence.  Nice work, judges, you should all be kicked out.
  
• 06521  FECR092583 - 11/19/10 - Child Endangerment, Bodily Injury
  
• 06521  NTCV036211 - created 8/16/2006, disposed 2/12/2008 - guilty of driving while licensed denied, susp, cancelled, or revoked - Judge Bruce Goddard - $250 fine.
  
• 06521  OWCR074931 - created 1/24/2006, disposed 4/26/2006 - guilty of OWI 1st offense - Judge Stephen C Gerard II - $1000 fine.  2nd charge Contempt-Illegal Resistance to Order or Process - sentence is "null"
  
• 06521  SMSM063282 - created 9/26/205, disposed 1/10/2006 - guilty of Interference with Official Acts, Judge Marsha A Bergan, $250 fine
  
• 06521  SMSM071254 - created 12/14/2007, disposed 2/21/2008 - guilty of Theft 5th Degree, Judge Bruce D Goddard, $100 fine.
  
• 06521  SMSM077437 - created 8/14/2009, disposed 9/25/2009 - guilty of Interference with Official Acts, Judge Stephen C Gerard II, $250 fine.
  
• 06521  SRCR088037 - created 8/14/2009, disposed 9/30/2009 - guilty of Possession of a Controlled Substance, Judge Stephen C Gerard II, $315 fine, driver license revoked for 180 days, (past probation extended a year), Level II Supervised Probation, 335 day suspended jail sentence.

Those are all from Johnson County.  There were some other, smaller traffic offenses.  No need to include those.

Again, the overall question here is why was Kristle Harris apparently accepted into HACAP's Section 8 housing program after the City of Iowa City's voucher program kicked her out?  This is all our tax money being abused here so as to give shelter to a drug dealer with a gun, a bullet proof vest, a problem with the cops, and who is violent and break her toddler daughter's arm.  Why are we even wasting our time supporting an ongoing criminal like Kristle Harris?  She's just one charge after another.

The next question is, why are these judges giving suspended jail sentences?  How do you get away with a $750 fine and a suspended sentence for charging between $1000 and $10,000 on somebody else's credit card?