LAKE CITY — A former Lake City police officer has taken a plea deal in a case involving falsified documents that has been under investigation since at least November 2021, according to new court documents filed this week.

Former Lake City officers Anthony Snyder and Aaron Alspach were arrested Sept. 21 and charged with one count of felonious misconduct in office and one count of perjury, both Class D felonies. Lake City Administrator Eric Wood was also arrested and charged with felonious misconduct in office, obstructing prosecution, perjury and suborning perjury. All three defendants were charged together.

Wood, Snyder and Alspach were charged by the filing of trial information, so according to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office that means there is not any criminal complaint that details the alleged offenses. Until now, not much was known about the case.

On Wednesday, attorneys for Snyder filed a motion to sever his case from his co-defendants’ cases, stating that trying the three defendants together would cause prejudice because the defendants have all made incriminating statements to law enforcement about the others.

According to the motion to sever, “the minutes of testimony describe an alleged conspiracy or scheme to falsify admission paperwork to the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy on behalf of Snyder and Alspach, who are former Lake City police officers, and with the assistance of Wood, who was the former Lake City administrator.”

The case is being investigated by the Sac County Sheriff’s Office and according to Snyder’s court filing, the investigation started as early as November 2021, when Alspach and Snyder were interviewed separately by Sac County Deputy Katie Stange as part of the investigation. During this interview, Alspach allegedly made statements incriminating himself, Wood and Snyder, the motion says.

Both former officers were interviewed separately again in September 2022, this time by Sac County Sheriff Ken McClure, and Alspach again gave incriminating statements. Snyder’s attorney also alleges that Wood has made “various statements” to law enforcement and city employees.

A hearing on Snyder’s motion to sever is scheduled for Nov. 14.

Snyder and Wood both pleaded not guilty to their respective charges on Oct. 3, but Alspach entered a guilty plea for a lesser charge on Friday.

According to Alspach’s plea agreement, he is pleading guilty to one count of tampering with records, an aggravated misdemeanor, and he agrees to “provide truthful and complete information if questioned by law enforcement regarding any matter pertaining to offenses charged in the present trial information” and he will “provide truthful and complete testimony if called as a witness by the state.”

In the plea agreement, Alspach admitted, “I signed an official document with false information regarding my physical test prescribed by the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. The information included in the report regarding my physical test was false and I understood that the information was false.”

Per the plea agreement, Alspach’s sentencing will be continued until after the resolution of the Snyder and Wood cases and at sentencing, the state will recommend a suspended prison and jail sentence and that Alspach be placed on probation. The original felony charges against Alspach will remain pending until 31 days after his sentencing, at which time the state will dismiss those charges.

The trial for Snyder and Wood is currently scheduled for Nov. 29.