Lang
5/9/21
A transient with a colorful criminal history is back behind bars after he allegedly attacked a doctor who was treating him.
According to University of Iowa Police, 52-year-old Gary Leon Duffel was being treated at the UI Hospitals and Clinics just after 11:15 Friday morning when he aggressively attacked a doctor, taking a swing at the man. The doctor was not injured.
Duffel, who listed his address as Christ the King Lutheran Church on Mormon Trek Boulevard, is charged with Assault on Persons in Certain Occupations. If convicted, he faces a maximum of one year in jail.
Duffel has a lengthy and colorful criminal history. Last July he stole a $137 stone turtle statue from Phil’s Building Supplies on Hollywood Boulevard and dropped it in the nearby Suburban BP Amoco parking lot on Keokuk Street, causing it to break. Duffel pleaded guilty to a 5th Degree Theft charge and was fined $200.In 2018 he was arrested for cutting down the flag outside the Iowa City VFW hall.
In March of 2010 Duffel was arrested for urinating on the front porch of then-Iowa City City Councilor Mike Wright.
Duffel was arrested at The Nickelodeon on the Coralville Strip in January of that year after he took his clothes off and began yelling about his recent release from the Henry County Correctional Facility.
Duffel was convicted on Criminal Mischief charges in 2007 after he toppled the Irving Weber statue at the corner of Iowa Avenue and Linn Street, breaking off the arm and causing an estimated $12,000 in damages.
In 2014 Duffel was arrested for stealing a keg off a beer truck parked at the Benton Street Delimart.