SUTHERLAND, IA (Northwestiowanow) – A Gaza man was arrested after being found operating a stolen vehicle near Sutherland.

According to the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred early Sunday morning, July 6, at approximately 2:10 a.m. Deputies conducted a traffic stop on Walnut Avenue near 485th Street, about one mile east of Sutherland, after observing a 2018 Polaris side-by-side speeding.

The driver, identified as 43-year-old Joel Daniel Wallinga, told deputies he had purchased the vehicle about three weeks earlier but had not yet registered it. A routine check of the vehicle identification number revealed the side-by-side had recently been reported stolen in Grand Island, Nebraska. Wallinga was taken into custody and charged with second-degree theft and operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent.

This arrest comes just two weeks after Wallinga was charged in connection with a drug investigation at his residence in Gaza, where authorities allege, he was involved in methamphetamine trafficking and other drug-related offenses.

The case is still under investigation.