A domestic abuse advocate who assisted county prosecutors in criminal matters was fired late last year for alleged drug use.
State records indicate Sharon Ring worked for Crisis Intervention Services from January 2023 through November 2025, when she was fired from her position as a fulltime domestic abuse advocate.
According to her employer, Ring was placed on a professional development plan on Oct. 23, 2025, due to “ongoing performance concerns,” after which she informed her supervisor that she had relapsed in the use of illegal substances.
On Oct. 30, 2025, Ring was allegedly placed on paid administrative leave for three days due to a complaint by “a community partner” regarding her poor work performance. During her paid suspension, the employer alleged, Ring, deleted all of her text messages and work-related correspondence, violating company policy on the destruction of work property.
The employer alleged that in November 2025, community partners continued to voice concerns regarding Ring’s performance and an Iowa county attorney informed the company Ring would no longer be allowed to serve in court, which was considered an essential element of her job duties.
In addition, the company alleged, the county attorney’s office indicated it would no longer send any clients to Crisis Intervention Services due to Ring’s actions.
Five days later, Ring was fired. She later applied for unemployment benefits, which led to a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Rebecca Stonawski, who ruled recently that Ring was ineligible for benefits due to workplace misconduct.
“While no drug testing was conducted in this case, (Ring’s) unsolicited admission indicated acknowledgment of inappropriate use,” Stonawski concluded. “(Her) actions were substantial. Though she received warnings, suspensions and time to improve, her actions did not improve, and the employer suffered.”
Other Iowans whose unemployment cases recently went before a judge include:
— Carl Nixon, who worked for TMC Transportation as the company’s safety manager from September 2013 through March 2026, when he was fired. The company alleged that on Feb. 28, 2026, Nixon conducted a “safety meeting” for the company’s truck drivers, during which he showed videos depicting inappropriate conduct by truck drivers while driving. Some of the videos Nixon screened for the workers showed truck drivers becoming distracted while watching what was termed “T—ies on TikTok” — videos of scantily clad women on the popular social media platform.
On March 5, 2026, Nixon was fired. He was later granted unemployment insurance and collected $3,732 in benefits before the company’s appeal of that decision went before Administrative Law Judge Brooke Axiotis, who ruled recently that Nixon was ineligible for benefits due to workplace misconduct. Nixon, Axiotis concluded, had previously been given a written warning for engaging in conversation that was sexual in nature and for “making ‘cat-call’ whistles” in violation of company harassment policies.
“Nixon used inappropriate language and showed videos of truck drivers watching videos of ‘T—ies on TikTok,’” Axiotis ruled. “(His) conduct during the safety meeting was offensive to the CEO and his supervisor.”
— Brittani Kueny, the former store manager for an Iowa thrift store, the Junior League Discovery Shop, which is run by a non-profit organization. State records indicate that after an internal investigation involving a review of sales histories, bank deposits and video footage, it was determined by the Junior League that she had let customers walk out of the store without paying for products. Kueny also walked out of the store with items she had not purchased, her employer claimed. In addition, bank deposits didn’t always match the dollar amount that sales slips indicated should have been deposited, with the difference being as much as $200, the employer alleged.
The Junior League also alleged there were multiple instances in which Kueny issued cash refunds, near the time of the store’s closing for the day, despite a no-refund policy that was in place. Kueny was fired and applied for unemployment benefits, leading to a hearing before Administrative Law Judge Amber Desmet, who found that Kueny “did not admit or deny the allegations” or “provide any explanation about the circumstances.”
Desmet denied Kueny benefits, ruling there was credible evidence that she “committed theft in violation of the employer’s policy and in spite of general principles of common sense and professional conduct.” Court records indicate no criminal charges were filed in the case.
— Zachary Horton, who worked as a full-time youth care worker for Ellipsis Inc., a central Iowa facility that provides residential care and behavioral intervention for children in crisis. Horton was fired after it was alleged that he had violated the employer’s zero-tolerance policy for workplace drug use.
The employer alleged that on Feb. 22, 2026, a colleague of Horton’s told a supervisor that she and Horton had left work just before noon the previous day and driven to a nearby park where they smoked cannabis and then returned to work. Horton, the company alleged, initially denied any marijuana use, but ultimately admitted the allegation was true.
At his subsequent hearing on unemployment, he allegedly denied the conduct, but the judge in the case concluded that the preponderance of evidence indicated he did use marijuana with a co-worker during the course of a workday. He was denied unemployment benefits.
