Urbandale City Manager's Home Deliberately Flooded; Police Offer Reward

Someone caused thousands of dollars in damage to Urbandale City Manager A.J. Johnson's home Tuesday by flooding his home, Urbandale police said.

Sometime between 7:40 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, someone ran a garden hose into Johnson's basement in the 4200 block of 162nd Street, and turned the water on, according to a press release from Urbandale Police Information Officer Randy Peterson.

Peterson said police aren't releasing the detail of exactly where the hose went into the house but he said "it's going to cause thousands and thousands of dollars in damage."

"It's like if a frozen pipe burst in the basement," he said.

The act took place sometime after Johnson and his wife left for work Wednesday morning and the time when she got home from work and discovered the damage.

"At this point we don't know if it was targeted at A.J. or if it was a random act and it was just at A.J.s house," said Peterson. He said in seven years with the Urbandale Police Department, he can't remember an incident where a public official was targeted.

Johnson has been Urbandale's city manager since 2009. Before that, he was the city manager in Muscatine.

The Urbandale Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the person(s) involved in this case. Peterson said the press release also has been sent to the neighborhood association in the area, since the perpetrators acted durting the day, to see if anyone saw anything suspicious Wednesday.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Urbandale Police Department at (515) 331-6803 or Polk County Crime Stoppers at (515) 223-1400. If your tip results in an arrest and conviction, a monetary reward will be issued.