Transient arrested after absconding from Hope House for second time in two years

Lang
4/17/21

A transient faces charges that he absconded from Hope House for the second time in two years.

28-year-old Jesse James Nicastri was booked into the Johnson County Jail just before 10am Friday. The Department of Corrections says Nicastri checked out of Hope House at 12:41am on January 9th to go to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. He was due back at the Holiday Road facility by 9am that morning, but he never returned.

Nicastri is charged with Absence from Custody, a Serious Misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of one year in jail.

This is the second time Nicastri has faced the same charge, as he also absconded from Hope House in 2019. In late October of that year, he signed out for an appointment at the UIHC and failed to return. He was arrested about a week later and was given credit for time served and sentenced to community service.

Nicastri has previously been convicted on two charges of Forgery allegedly depositing five forged checks totaling $1,775 between June 17th and July 1st 0f 2019 at Veridian Credit Union. He was also convicted of attempting to cash a stolen check at Midwest One Bank in Coralville on July 3rd of that year.

Additionally, Nicastri was convicted of 3rd Degree Burglary of a Motor Vehicle after being identified as the man who broke into a woman’s car on July 25th, 2019.