Marion County — James Rodney Johnson of Des Moines is facing charges after being pulled over for allegedly driving a UTV while drunk in Marion County.
According to Sheriff Ron Goemaat, his office received a call at 12:51 p.m. Thursday from a driver in Warren County, reporting a man driving a UTV erratically down the road. At 13:12 p.m., a crew working for the Iowa Department of Transportation called regarding a vehicle of the same description driving through a road construction site west of the Pleasantville Y. The driver had driven through a stop sign and nearly hit an oncoming vehicle head on.
A Marion County Sheriff's Deputy responded and eventually located the vehicle north of the Pleasantville Y on S-45. The driver, Johnson, was arrested and charged with operating while intoxicated.
But that wasn't the end of it. Police checked on the vehicle Johnson was driving and found was stolen in Des Moines earlier in the morning. They filed an additional charge of operating a motor vehicle without the owner's consent as a result.
