West Des Moines Dad Allegedly Whips Son for Refusing to Settle Pot Pipe Dispute with Gun

A 36-year-old West Des Moines man was arrested Sunday on charges of repeatedly whipping his teenaged son with a belt when the youth refused to violently retaliate against a group of teenagers suspected of breaking into the family’s home to retrieve a marijuana pipe.

The man, whose name is being withheld to protect the identity of the juvenile victim, was charged with assault while displaying a weapon, assault with injury and interference with official acts. He was booked at the Polk County Jail, but has since been released.

The dispute started over a missing marijuana pipe the teen’s parents had confiscated after finding it in his room, according to Officer Jason Heintz’s report. The pipe reportedly belonged to one of the teen’s friends, who is among a group of suspects in a burglary at the family’s home. The friends wanted the pipe back, and allegedly broke into the home Aug. 6 to retrieve it.

Upon learning that the teen no longer had the pipe, they allegedly took $20 from one of the family member’s purse, assaulted the teen with his skateboard, then fled through the back door and damaged a privacy fence in their escape.

On Sunday, the boy called 911, “saying that his father was very angry and had just assaulted him,” according to Heintz’s report. The father reportedly had grabbed a handgun and approached the teen, pointed a weapon at him and said, “We need to take care of these kids. Come on.”

When the son refused, his father reportedly became upset and struck him in the face, causing bruising and swelling in one eye, then whipped him repeatedly with a belt. The teen then reportedly held his father in a chokehold until police could arrive.

Heintz said in his report that when he arrived at the scene about 3:45 p.m. Sunday, he could hear yelling and screaming coming from inside the house, where the teenager reported “continuing violence” and told police “he is afraid of his father, as he is a very angry, controlling person,” according to the report.

Henitz said he was met by the door by the father, who “immediately began yelling at me about how (police) would not write a report about a burglary to his house and the theft of a couple of his firearms.” 

When police initially took the burglary report, the family didn’t want to pursue burglary charges because they believed one of the suspects was a relative, according to a separate police report. However, the report said the parents wanted to file complaints against the suspects -- a 15-year-old Urbandale boy, an 18-year-old Altoona man and two other juveniles unknown to the family --because they were allegedly harassing their son.