West Des Moines Settles Wrongful Arrest Lawsuit

The City of West Des Moines will pay $450,000 to a man who claims racial profiling is the only reason for his arrest last spring. Matthew Rodrigues spent 11 days in the Dallas County Jail after being charged with sexual assault.

Rodrigues said he was attending a party at a West Des Moines motel in April when police stopped him and began asking him questions in connection with a sexual assault investigation. He told WHO-TV the police referred to him as Mexican and he replied that he was Portuguese, but when they asked his name and he replied, the response was, "see, you're Mexican."

Rodrigues was arrested and told the TV station he spent $900 on food and phone calls while in jail to try to get authorities to believe he was not involved in the crime. He said he told them from the start a video would show he was not involved, but that police didn't look at it until shortly before his release.

Under the settlement agreement reached with Rodrigues, police did not claim any wrongdoing. The department told WHO the incident was simply a case of mistaken identity.

That settlement marks the fourth case within a year in which the city has paid out claims related to conduct in the police department. In November 2016 three women who worked for the department filed sexual discrimination claims against then police chief Shaun LaDue. Crime analyst Alice Wisner and animal control officer Carol Gass reached settlements with the city of $150,000 and $30,000, respectively. Former police sergeant Tanya Zaglauer Schmell went to trial with her case and was awarded $1.9 million in November 2016.

LaDue resigned that month at the request of city leaders.

Patch file photo