Ex-officers go on trial in rape case

Two former Iowa police officers go on trial Tuesday on charges of second-degree sexual abuse.

Former Creston Police Chief James Christensen, 41, and former Assistant Chief John Sickels, 39, are accused in the alleged rape of an employee at the local country club last year.

The trial begins at 9 a.m. at the Woodbury County Courthouse in Sioux City. Proceedings were moved from Union County at the defendants' request.

Sickels is accused of raping a bartender of the Crestmoor Golf Club at about 2 a.m. on April 18, 2008. The bartender said the rape occurred when only she, Sickels and Christensen were in the bar, according to an affidavit filed by an investigator for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation...