January 16, 2018 06:01 PM

Brandon Mother Makes Court Appearance

Don Jorgensen reports:
The Brandon woman at the center of an investigation into two drive-by shootings in Northwest Iowa has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. 

50-year-old Artis Kattenberg made her first court appearance Tuesday afternoon in Minnehaha County.

You may remember Kattenberg was taken into custody earlier this month after a bizarre set of circumstances involving herself, her son and their church.  Kattenberg walked into court Tuesday nearly two weeks after her initial arrest.  

She's charged in Minnehaha County on one count of child abuse, but faces other charges in Iowa where she and her son are accused in connection with two drive-by shootings. 

Authorities say they happened back in December after the two had a falling out with their church.  The church sent them this letter notifying them they were never allowed back onto the property.  

When police raided their home in Brandon, they found what they describe as a fortified basement with dozens of firearms, bullet proof vests and thousands of rounds of ammunition. 

"There are a number of people who collect firearms, that in of itself doesn't necessarily give me, personally a lot of concern, but when you start seeing indications of other behavior that's not typical.  There were a lot of red flags that were raised on this," Brandon Police of Chief Dave Kull said. 

Members of their congregation reported seeing Kattenberg's son wearing a bulletproof vest at catechism class.  On another occasion, it appeared he was concealing a handgun. 

According to court papers, when confronted by one of the elders of the church, he said 'If I wanted to shoot people in a church, I would carry a machine gun.'

The documents say when police contacted Kattenberg about her son's behavior, she told him the boy was a humanoid character from a video game and that they should contact the Secretary of Defense. 

Bond was set at $100,000 cash.  There'll be extradition hearings for her to face charges in Iowa. 





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