Two Arrested at Urbandale's Troubled Motel Relax

Tenants at Urbandale's , an extended-stay motel that has been plagued with crime, called Urbandale Police twice for help on Saturday.

In both cases, people were arrested on old charges from other cities.

Tenants at the motel at 7625 Hickman Road called police at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, complaining of a couple yelling in another room. When police arrived, they found that Miche Watson, 27, of Riverdale, GA, was wanted on an outstanding warrant from Warren County, Iowa.

Urbandale Police Lt. Rob Jorgensen said Watson was arguing with her husband but no charges were filed in that domestic incident.

About ten hours later, police returned to the motel because Douglas Ballard, 30, a tenant at the motel was concerned that "someone was messing with his car," said Jorgensen.

Before the Urbandale officer could determine what the issue was with the car, he was notified by poiice dispatchers that Ballard was wanted on a domestic abuse charge. Ballard was taken in on that charge, he said.

Urbandale Police that they would be working with the motel's owners to reduce crime there. Police have been summoned to the motel about 550 times over the past two years.

Two of those calls involved criminal investigations into the drug-related deaths of separate tenants. Family members of those men — Chad Nauman and Michael Mahalovich — have and demanded that it be made safer. 

Property Manager Jill Mollison has said she will work with Urbandale Police and added that she had hired a security company to patrol the property at night.

Police Chief Ross McCarty said police set a deadline of July 1 for making changes at the motel.