West Des Moines, Clive Police Arrest Man for String of Robberies

A joint Clive and West Des Moines Police investigation into a series of recent armed robberies has lead to the arrest of Joshua Stephen Eden, 39, of 3050 University Ave. in West Des Moines, according to a news release.

The two departments joined resources to investigate several armed robberies that have occurred in the two cities. Five occurred in West Des Moines and two in Clive from early March and into May. 

Detectives developed information that led them to believe Eden may be responsible for these robberies, the police departments' news release said. This led to witness identification and a search warrant being issued and served on Eden's residence.

Eden was not at home when officers searched his residence, but evidence was found from that search that allegedly tied Eden to at least one of the robberies, police said. Arrest warrants were issued for Eden and police were searching for Eden when he was stopped in a vehicle at 8:03 p.m. Thursday, May 9, by West Des Moines Police officers. The traffic stop happened in the 3400 block of Westown Parkway.

Eden was arrested and taken to the Polk County Jail, where he was charged with three counts of first-degree robbery and held on $75,000 bond.

Clive Police Chief Michael Venema said detectives will continue to follow leads to determine if there is enough evidence to charge Eden in other cases. Information will also be shared with other metro police departments to help them determine if Eden was responsible for any robberies elsewhere. 

"I would like to commend the officers from both departments for their diligence and the long hours they put in to solve this case," Venema said in a news release. "This is another fine example of the interdepartmental cooperation that is commonplace in the Des Moines Metro police community."