A southeast Iowa man who was serving a sentence for a violent home invasion in Ottumwa has died, according to the Iowa Department of Corrections.
44-year-old Joseph Allen Bloom of Eldon was pronounced dead due to natural causes on Friday morning at the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics’ hospice room.
The Department of Corrections says Bloom was serving a 110-year sentence for multiple crimes in Union and Wapello Counties. In April 2020, Bloom and multiple accomplices broke into an Ottumwa home, stole items, and assaulted the homeowner so severely that the victim’s skull was fractured into two pieces.
Bloom was found guilty of first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, assault while participating in a felony, and willful injury in 2021 for the home invasion.