MADISON COUNTY, Iowa — A battle between two county officials in Madison County is heating up.

Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Heather Stancil filed for a temporary restraining order late Friday night after the Madison County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at her home in Earlham, according to Federal court records.

According to the filing, the office of Sheriff Jason Barnes seized Stancil’s personal cell phone and county-issued laptop around 6:45 p.m. Stancil and her attorney, Alan Ostergren, immediately filed paperwork to prevent the agency from examining, downloading, accessing, or viewing any of the items seized. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa Central Division immediately granted the temporary restraining order until further order of the court.

The filing points to “privileged email and text communications” between Stancil and Ostergren, and information about her “political activities,” as a primary concern in light of an ongoing criminal investigation into the Chairwoman, which she claims is retaliatory in nature.

The move comes amid chronic turmoil surrounding the county government and two days after Stancil filed a Federal lawsuit against Barnes in response to his public announcement that he had referred a preliminary criminal investigation into Stancil for alleged election misconduct to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. The investigation stemmed from a comment Stancil made on her public Facebook page regarding a special election for the county Auditor’s seat.

In her lawsuit, Stancil claimed her constitutional rights were violated and she suffered a “loss of standing in the community and emotional injury.” Stancil is asking for compensatory
and punitive damages, injunctive relief, court costs, attorney fees, and such other
relief, pending the outcome of a jury trial.

Barnes and Ostergren had no comment on the lawsuit or temporary restraining order when reached by phone Friday night.