Lang
8/8/19
A local transient has been charged in connection with a beating outside of an Iowa City restaurant.
Iowa City Police were called to Little Caesar’s on Hollywood Boulevard just before 6:30pm on July 27th for a man who had been beaten and was bleeding heavily.
An investigation determined that 47-year-old Michael Berkemann kicked the victim in the face while the man was sitting on the ground in a defenseless position. The victim required attention from emergency responders, who stitched the wound closed.
Berkemann was booked into the Johnson County Jail just before 7:15 Wednesday night and charged with Assault With Intent to Inflict Serious Injury, an aggravated misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of two years in prison.
Berkemann was arrested last June after he was allegedly caught using a hammer to break into mailboxes at the Hilltop manufactured housing community on Waterfront Drive. Berkemann was arrested last month at the Shelter House, where he was found with numerous items that had been reported stolen from other residents. They include a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses, a cell phone, clothes, wallets, prescription drugs and sex toys; Berkemann told police that all the items were his.
Berkemann faces charges of 4th Degree Theft, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Unlawful Possession of a Prescription Drug and Trespassing If convicted on all charges, he faces a maximum of 25 months in prison.
