FAIRMONT, Minn. – A former police officer in the Minnesota border town of Armstrong, Iowa, was arrested on 84 criminal charges. Benjamin Scheevel, 30, was taken to the Martin County jail. Iowa authorities were expected pick him up and take him back to Iowa. The arrest was the latest involving scandal-plagued Armstrong. Since February 2021, five municipal authorities have been arrested on corruption and other charges. The arrests have put Armstrong, population 840, on the map nationally as a hotbed of small-town abuse of power. Scheevel was on the Armstrong police force from 2016 to 2019. The charges against him include:
> Stalking involving a dangerous weapon.
> Unauthorized dissemination of criminal history data and police intelligence history data.
> Assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.
> Evasion of Iowa state income tax,
> Theft.
> Perjury and obstruction.
> Non-felonious misconduct in office.
In addition, on the day before Scheevel’s arrest, Judge Shayne L. Mayer, whose jurisdiction includes Armstrong, issued no-contact orders relating to four Iowa women.
Scheevel. Accused of using false false pretenses to obtain and share information about at least 26 people, including himself, his wife and fellow Amstrong police officer Tyler VanRoekel. At least 14 of the additional individuals whose records he accessed appear to be women, including two of who he is accused of stalking. Van Roekel is charged separately with 12 counts, including taking criminal data from police records, which he passed on to Scheevel.