Former Charles City man charged in alleged firearms incident from 2020

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

A former Charles City man has been arrested and charged with firing a gun several times into a parked vehicle that was close to people, in an alleged incident from June 2020.

Romel Allen Price, age 23, of Lafayette, Indiana, was arrested last Friday, March 3, in Cook County, Illinois, on a warrant that had been issued June 16, 2020. He was transported back to Floyd County where he was charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon, a Class C Felony, and was being held on $10,000 cash bail.

According to the complaint filed in Floyd County District Court, on June 13, 2020, Price threatened several people then discharged a firearm multiple times into a parked vehicle on the 600 block of North Iowa Street, that was close to the three people who were being threatened.

An arrest warrant was issued June 16, 2020.

Three no-contact orders had also been issued June 17, 2020, between three people and Price.

After his arrest, the court had ordered Price to be represented by the Office of the Public Defender in Mason City, but that office filed a motion to withdraw, saying that it had a conflict of interest because it had represented one of the three alleged victims in this case when that person had been charged with an aggravated misdemeanor against Price.

A preliminary hearing for Price is set for March 13, although if the county attorney files a trial information before then, as is usually the case, the next court action would be an arraignment, at a time and date set in the trial information.