Police Blotter

Mark H. Paulson, 51, of Grinnell, is charged with operating while under the influence after he was pulled over at 12:49 a.m. May 25 on East Fourth Street North. The Newton Police Department were running stationary radar when they saw a truck approaching with a white light on the driver side tail light. The officers also saw the third brake light was not functioning when the vehicle made an aggressive turn. Officers pulled the vehicle over and noticed a strong smell of alcohol coming from the vehicle. Paulson admitted to drinking alcohol before operating his vehicle. He also had watery and blood shot eyes and had slowed slurred speech. He took a standardized field tests and failed all three along with having a BRac at .16. He was taken to the Jasper County Jail.

Rodney D. Eilander, 45, of Newton is charged with fifth degree theft for an incident at 7:20 p.m. March 13 to 300 Iowa Speedway Drive. Officers were called to Walmart May 20 to follow up on a theft from March 13. A witness identified Eilander from video footage where he is accused of intentionally double stacking items and not scanning items properly in the self checkout stand. The witness said he intentionally did not scan $44.94 worth of items and left without paying for them. He was cited and released to appear.