The former chairman of the Warren County Republicans, who served from 2014 until 2017, has been arrested for stalking his biological daughter. According to USA Today , Rick Halvorsen was previously arrested on May 11 on charges of incest and had been ordered to have no contact with her. But on Sept. 24, he was caught violating that order and was taken into custody.
Halvorsen was awaiting sentencing on the incest charge which was scheduled for Nov. 6 of this year. He entered a plea of guilty for sex acts that he committed with his daughter between June 1, 2016 and Oct. 30, 2016. According to Warren County Attorney Doug Eichholtz , Halvorsen’s daughter is considered a victim in the case and faces no charges.
On the day in question, Halvorsen is said to have driven past his daughter’s job. The Des Moines Register reported that the two made eye contact which prompted his daughter and an acquaintance to leave her place of employment and go retrieve another car from nearby Simpson College. Halvorsen followed them to the college and then to the police station where his daughter filed a complaint against him.
Officer Brian Stern observed Halvorsen, who was accompanied by his wife, driving very slowly past the police station at least twice while his daughter was inside. Stern trailed the Halvorsens and then pulled them over. They adamantly denied stalking the woman and claimed that they had been just driving around for two hours. Stern informed Rick that he was in violation of the no-contact order and that he had to take him into custody. But Halvorsen refused to go quietly.
WARREN COUNTY, Iowa — The former chairman of the Warren County Republicans was arrested this week on a sexual assaul… https://t.co/QNYjRrukqS
— Missions Possible (@PHMPAMERICA) May 15, 2017
Officer Jay Hackett arrived on the scene shortly after Stern made the stop to back him up. The officers ordered Halvorsen to get out of his car several times before he finally complied. According to the police report , Rick was “very verbally abusive,” extremely loud, and used profanity repeatedly as he insulted both officers. His rants started before he was arrested and continued for the duration of the trip to the station.
“Halvorsen was very upset and stated that his daughter was a liar and that we were harassing him,” Stern reported .
Rick Halvorsen, former chair of Warren County Republicans, pleaded guilty to incest & was arrested again last week for breaking no-contact order with daughter. He bailed out. Sentencing for incest charge is November 6. https://t.co/OFBOJ67kru Why did judge allow him to bail out? pic.twitter.com/1mC4SQSkEx
— Dr. Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) October 8, 2017
The former GOP county chair was booked on contempt charges and on Monday, Oct. 2 he was released on a $500 bond. Halvorsen is now scheduled for a hearing on this latest charge on Oct. 11 at 9:30 a.m. to determine his punishment.
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