A Wisconsin judge on Thursday ordered a California man to stand trial in the deaths of three Minneapolis men in a wrong-way collision last month on Interstate 94.

Serghei Kundilovski, 36, of Orangevale, is charged with three counts of first-degree reckless homicide, three counts of knowingly operating a motor vehicle while revoked and three counts of homicide by using a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Kundilovski is being held under guard at Mayo Clinic Health System-Red Cedar in Menomonie. He is expected to be there about another month, it was noted during the preliminary hearing.

Kundilovski is scheduled for an arraignment Oct. 3.

Dunn County Judge James Peterson continued a $300,000 bond. Kundilovski appeared in Dunn County Court in a wheelchair dressed in a light-blue hospital gown. Nevertheless, Peterson ordered that Kundilovski turn over his passport to the clerk of courts office as long as the bond is in effect.

During the preliminary hearing, the only witness called was state Trooper Kyle Devries, who conducted the crash reconstruction.

Devries said Kundilovski was driving the wrong direction in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 94 when he struck an oncoming vehicle on the afternoon of July 13.

The head-on crash killed Adam G. Kendhammer, 32, Jeremy A. Berchem, 27, and Bryan E. Rudell, 29, all of Minneapolis. All died from multiple trauma sustained in the crash, Devries noted, quoting autopsy results.

Devries noted eyewitnesses told police Kundilovski was driving his 2004 Mitsubishi Diamonte in the westbound lanes when he traveled through the median and onto the eastbound lanes, headed directly into oncoming traffic, and his car collided nearly head-on with another vehicle identified as a 2015 Kia Soul.

The Soul came to rest on its passenger side facing north. The Diamonte was on its wheels facing north.

Witnesses also reported Diamonte was driving erratically before the crash, Devries said. One witness reported the car passed her on the right near milepost 36 and then she saw the car go across the median into the eastbound I-94 lanes traveling west.

The collision occurred near the median shoulder, Devries said. Devries said at this point he has not determined for sure if there was evasive action taken by the Soul but believes there was because the vehicle moved to the median.

Troopers found two cans of Ultra Duster canned air units in Kundilovski’s car. One was on the front passenger side floorboard and the other was by the front driver side tire. Authorities believe Kundilovski was huffing, using the aerosol to get a high.

The Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene tested Kundilovski’s blood, which showed he had ethanol and difluoroethane — a compound in aerosol and air duster cans — in his system at the time of the crash. He also had a 0.02 blood-alcohol level, below the legal limit to drive of 0.08.

Kundilovski’s license was revoked after he was convicted of drunken driving in Sauk County in June.

He has pleaded not guilty to Dunn County charges of misdemeanor operating while revoked and bail jumping and a forfeiture charge of nonregistration of a vehicle on July 12.

Several homes in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood were evacuated early Saturday morning after police found an explosive device in a vehicle.

The incident began just before 5 a.m. when officers were called to a gas station at 7th Street East and Johnson Parkway on a report that a woman had been threatened by a man with a handgun. When officers arrived, the man had fled the scene, but officers were able to obtain a description of his vehicle.

A short time later, officers located the vehicle in the vicinity of Maryland Avenue and Lane Place. The two men in the vehicle were arrested and, inside the car, police found two handguns. In the trunk, officers found a pipe bomb.

The bomb squad responded and homes in the immediate area were evacuated. The scene was eventually cleared without incident.

Fredric Pittman, 38, of Roseville, and Monttraill Lamar Claiborne, 40, of St. Louis, were arrested. Both are expected to be charged with possession of an explosive device and possession of a stolen firearm.

As communities struggle to address the rising use of heroin and other opioid narcotics, another familiar drug has continued to tighten its grip.

Figures from law enforcement and addiction treatment specialists show that methamphetamine remains the most commonly used hard drug in the region. Minnesota has experienced a 489 percent increase from 2009 to 2016 in meth seizures, according to the Department of Public Safety. And while 2009 marked a low point in levels for people seeking treatment, methamphetamine arrests and seizures have dramatically increased since then.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety announced the seizure of 487.7 pounds of meth in 2016, more than double the 230.3 pounds seized in 2015. In 2012, just 112.6 pounds of meth were confiscated by law enforcement in Minnesota.

Law enforcement officials say methamphetamine currently flowing into the Upper Midwest comes largely from Mexican cartels.

Minnesota Department of Public Safety gang and drug coordinator Brian Marquart said that around 2007, cartels figured out a way to mass produce high-quality methamphetamine.

That accounts for some of “the massive influx of methamphetamine we’re seeing across the country, including in North Dakota and Minnesota,” he said.

User-quantity level methamphetamine now ranges from 70 to 80 percent pure, Marquart said. In the early 2000s when local small-batch meth labs were more common, the quality of the product was high, but the quantity was relatively low.

“Now we are seeing very high quality, into the 80th percentile at the user level,” he said.

“A few years ago, a large seizure coming into this state would have been 3 to 5 pounds,” Marquart said. “Now we are seeing seizures of 30, 50, 70, even 100 pounds of methamphetamine either coming into this state or bound for Minnesota and North Dakota.” 

The user base in the region is very high now, Marquart said. Both states are seeing higher numbers of people seeking treatment.

“Methamphetamine crosses all socioeconomic boundaries,” Marquart said.

Meth at the street level is typically purchased in grams, with dosage rates at about one-tenth of a gram. Marquart said a gram in Minnesota costs about $100. For wholesalers of the drug, the price has dropped considerably, opening up the potential for even greater profits.

“Four or five years ago it was around $20,000 per pound and now it’s down to about $5,000 per pound,” he said.

The drug’s affordability contributes to its growing use rates, experts said. It’s also widely available in most areas.

“It is everywhere,” Marquart said. “It is in small, rural towns to the large metropolitan areas.”

“Truthfully, if people want to use it, they can find it,” Davis said.

Bulk methamphetamine that comes into Minnesota largely comes from Mexico through the southwest border. The drug is transported by Mexican drug cartels in commercial and personal vehicles, Marquart said. From the Twin Cities, the drug is distributed throughout the state and into neighboring states.

Minnesota’s violent crime task forces prioritize targeting mid- to upper-level dealers operating in the state in an attempt to disrupt the flow of meth in the region.

“We continue to work with our partners for treatment and education,” Marquart said. “We can’t do this alone. We need the public’s help.”

While arrests and confiscations of methamphetamine continue to rise, so have admissions to addiction treatment centers for people battling dependency.

“What we are seeing in the data is alarming,” Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Emily Piper said in a release. “Methamphetamine use is now second only to alcohol for treatment admissions in Minnesota. The good news is: Treatment works. By strengthening and improving our treatment system, more people will get the help they need when they need it.” 

Residential treatment even for the first 24 to 48 hours can have a big impact on breaking the physical and psychological withdrawal users experience, said Deb Davis, an assistant director at Northeast Human Service Center in Grand Forks, N.D.

Over time, meth breaks down the body. Teeth rot. Users get little sleep and often have very poor nutrition, Davis said.

Prolonged amphetamine drug usage causes people to lose the ability to organically experience pleasure, Davis said. Even if someone has a period of sobriety, they may end up trying to use again, just to get the feeling back.

“They just think they can do it one last time,” Davis said.

Success for people in treatment is relative. Davis said many people tend to look at someone who has four months of sobriety and relapses as a failure, but she believes that is misguided. Each attempt at sobriety could be the time it sticks for good.

“We don’t look at things likes succes and failure as black and white,” Davis said.

A University of St. Thomas student who reported being sexually assaulted will not have to participate in a lawsuit her alleged attacker brought against the school.

U.S. Magistrate Judge David Schultz ruled Monday that the woman’s pretrial testimony would be of “minimal relevance” to the case, and it’s not worth making her “relive what was obviously a very painful experience.”

The plaintiff, identified in court records only as John Doe, was suspended in a December 2015 encounter in a dormitory bathroom that St. Thomas found violated the school’s sexual misconduct policy. He insists the sexual contact was consensual.

Without that interview, he’ll have to rely on St. Thomas employees to tell the truth about their own investigation.

“I don’t have confidence that I’m able to get after the truth in this case unless I’m able to depose Jane Doe,” he said.

The woman said in a letter to the court that she suffered from “headaches, back pain, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness and night terrors” during the investigation and disciplinary process.

Besides investigators and a few friends, she said, “I have not shared the details of the sexual assault with anyone. Doing so is simply too upsetting and painful.”

Jenny Gassman-Pines, an attorney for the woman, said Monday that there are plenty of other witnesses and documents that will show what the investigation entailed. She accused the plaintiff of trying to relitigate the decision to suspend him.

“These types of cases are not retrials of the disciplinary proceedings,” she said.

Schultz agreed that the conclusion St. Thomas reached — that the plaintiff violated school policy and should be suspended — is not relevant to the plaintiff’s negligence claim against the school.

McGraw disagreed, saying his client would not have been suspended had St. Thomas conducted a proper investigation.

“Part of the goal of this lawsuit is to let the truth shine through. My client doesn’t believe he sexually assaulted this young lady,” he said.

The case could go to trial next summer.

Police investigated the alleged assault, but McGraw’s client never was charged.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri woman was charged Tuesday with killing the autistic teenage daughter she gave up for adoption as a baby, weeks after the girl’s remains were found in a burn pit on her remote property and months after the girl moved back from Minnesota, where she was raised.

Rebecca Ruud, 39, is charged with first-degree murder and alternative counts of abuse of a child resulting in death, second-degree murder and felony murder in the killing of her 16-year-old biological daughter, Savannah Leckie. She is also charged with tampering with physical evidence and abandoning a corpse, said Ozark County Prosecutor John Garrabrant. He declined to say whether anyone else would be charged, but Sheriff Darrin Reed said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are expected.

Ruud is being held in the Ozark County jail. A cellphone number listed as hers wasn’t working, and the public defender’s office didn’t immediately reply to a phone message seeking comment.

According to a probable cause statement filed with the charges, Ruud reported a fire on July 18 on the property where she and her now-husband live in Theodosia, a village of about 250 people near Missouri’s southern border with Arkansas. She told fire officials she was burned trying to save the girl from the fire, but refused to let them talk to Savannah.

Two days later, Ruud reported that Savannah had gone missing, investigators said. She later gave differing accounts of how she was injured but claimed Savannah ran away because she blamed herself for starting the fire.

Several searches of the property turned up human teeth, a meat grinder, a knife and 26 bottles of lye, which can be used to accelerate the breakdown of bodily tissue, according to court documents. Human bone fragments were found in a field about 400 yards from the home on Aug. 4. During that search, Ruud and her husband left the farm and got married.

A forensic analysis identified the remains as Savannah’s, the sheriff said.

Ruud was arrested at a Greyhound bus station on Saturday. She had bought a ticket to Kansas City and her husband, who has not been charged, had a ticket to Memphis, Tenn. Investigators arrested her because she was known to have contacts in several states and is affiliated with groups involved in living off the public grid, according to the probable cause statement.

Ruud told investigators that she put Savannah up for adoption when she was born and that the girl spent most of her life in Minnesota. Affidavits filed in support of search warrants describe Savannah as having high-functioning autism.

Savannah’s adoptive mother, Tamile Leckie-Montague, asked Ruud last November to take the teen because Savannah couldn’t get along with her fiancé, Cary Steeves. Ruud agreed and was given power of attorney. After the girl moved to Missouri, she was home-schooled and had “almost no social contacts,” according to an affidavit.

Ruud’s ex-boyfriend, Buddy Smart, told investigators he had seen her discipline Savannah by forcing her to crawl through a hog pen and making her bathe in a pond, the affidavit states. Ruud acknowledged that was true and told investigators that when Savannah cut her arm “in a suicidal gesture,” she forced the girl to scrub the wound daily with alcohol and salt as punishment.

Steeves told Minneapolis television station KSTP-TV that Savannah “needed a lot of one-on-one focus and the farm just seemed like a really good place for her at the moment.” He told the Star Tribune that Leckie-Montague last spoke to Savannah on June 3, which was her 16th birthday, and that there was “nothing like big, red flags” suggesting anything was amiss. 

Leckie-Montague, who lives in Columbia Heights, told authorities that Ruud “continually complained” about how Savannah was acting on the farm and the time and money it took to care for the girl, according to the probable cause statement.

Leckie-Montague issued a news release Tuesday thanking Missouri investigators and asking for privacy for her and her family.

“Our family is in deep grief and is mourning Savannah as her remains were identified yesterday. This is not the outcome that we were hoping and praying for,” she wrote.

— By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and MARGARET STAFFORD

ELK RIVER, Minn. — A white Minnesota man has been sentenced to two years in prison for a hatchet attack on a black man.

Fifty-one-year-old Daniel Volkers of St. Cloud was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon motivated by bias. Other charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

WJON-AM reports Volkers confronted a black man who was sitting in a car in a St. Cloud parking lot in March. The 45-year-old man told police he opened his car door and asked Volkers what he wanted. Volkers was accused of threatening the man and swinging a hatchet at him twice. The man was able to close and lock his car door without being hit.

Police found Volkers hiding in a pantry in his apartment and recovered a hatchet.

A woman who declared herself a candidate for the Minneapolis City Council earlier this year was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol — for the second time this summer.

Tiffini Flynn Forslund, 51, was pulled over early Sunday morning in Mounds View for driving on the shoulder of the roadway over the fog line with the right turn signal on, according to a complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court.

The officer identified Forslund by her license plate — with expired tabs — “hole-punched” driver’s license and expired insurance card, the complaint said. Her license had been revoked as well.

Forslund was charged with second-degree refusal to submit to chemical test, third-degree operating motor vehicle under influence of alcohol and driving after revocation.

Earlier this summer, she was arrested after blowing a 0.09, just slightly over Minnesota’s 0.08 BAC. She had no DUIs prior to that.

Forslund declared herself a Ward 6 candidate for Minneapolis City Council earlier this summer, running against current member Abdi Warsame. Though city campaign records show she had not filed for the seat by the Aug. 15 deadline.

She could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

Forslund also works as the parental relations director for Children Against Court-Appointed Child Abuse-CA3, is a member of the Board of Directors at Investible Children, Kids at Risk Action, a children’s rights advocacy network.

A St. Paul police officer was charged last week with two counts of misdemeanor domestic assault, accused of striking his girlfriend in the arm as he backed up his vehicle outside a Woodbury home.

Joseph Robert Labathe, 36, pleaded not guilty and was released from the Washington County jail on $10,000 bond.

Last Tuesday, just before midnight, Labathe’s girlfriend called police about a domestic dispute at the house where the couple lives. The woman reported that, during an argument, Labathe “cornered her inside the residence and would not let her leave the room,” according to a criminal complaint. Labathe “grabbed her wrist and she was very afraid for her safety,” the complaint continued.

The couple has a 2-month-old son and Labathe was carrying him when he left in his vehicle. As he reversed, Labathe struck the woman in her forearm and upper arm, which caused her to fall backward into her vehicle, the complaint said.

“Officers did not observe immediate injuries” to Labathe’s girlfriend, “but did observe damage to her vehicle consistent with her statement” that his vehicle had struck hers, the complaint said.

Soon after, Woodbury officers arrested Labathe at his mother’s residence. He was booked into the Washington County jail early last Wednesday and released Thursday after making his first court appearance. Labathe’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.

The Woodbury city attorney’s office charged Labathe with domestic assault — commits act to cause fear of bodily harm or death and domestic assault — intentionally inflicts/attempts to inflict bodily harm on another. 

Labathe was previously a St. Paul patrol officer and has been assigned to the department’s backgrounds unit since March. He works in an administrative role, a department spokesman said.

During Labathe’s 10 years as a St. Paul officer, he has received two medals of commendation, and has been disciplined twice for preventable crashes and three times for policy violations, according to department records.

Labathe is the subject of an active internal-affairs complaint, but information about whether it’s connected to his arrest is not public at this time.

Four former employees of a Cottage Grove golf course were sexually harassed by the owner or fired for complaining about it, a Washington County judge has ruled in a lawsuit.

The judge ruled that Mississippi Dunes owner Dr. William Doebler made lewd comments and grabbed women in a sexual way. The harassment occurred in the clubhouse as well as in Doebler’s home, nicknamed “The Brothel.”

The court ruled that part-time workers Traci Johnson, Michelle Johnson and Charlotte Johnson — who are not related — were sexually harassed. In addition, the judge determined that after hearing about the complaints, Doebler fired those three and bar manager Wade Strom.

Judge Mary Hannon awarded each employee damages ranging from $15,000 to $55,000. She fined the golf course business, Links on the Mississippi Inc., an additional $20,000.

The total amount of the awards was $150,000, according to plaintiff attorney David Schlesinger, a partner in the Minneapolis firm Nichols Kaster.

More penalties might be coming. Schlesinger said the next phase of the trial will determine whether to level punitive damages against the business.

The judge dismissed the sexual harassment claims of three other female ex-employees.

Her ruling gives the following account.

In 2014, the 70-year-old Doebler drank while at the golf course clubhouse and was “often intoxicated.”

He had three homes, one of which was next to the golf course. For reasons that are not clear, he and his employees referred to this home as “The Brothel.”

Charlotte Johnson was a guest in that home, and Doebler grabbed her “buttocks with one of his hands and her vaginal area with the other.” In another incident in the clubhouse, he grabbed Michelle Johnson’s bottom.

Doebler often made comments about orgies, and how having children “ruins” and “wrecks” women’s sexual organs. 

The judge concluded that Doebler and the golf course business knew about the charges of harassment, but did not respond in any way. The business never investigated the claims, or disciplined Doebler.

This action, wrote the judge, “likely created an environment where sex discrimination was and possibly still is tolerated.”

Doebler remains the owner of the golf course. He did not respond to a telephone message left Tuesday asking for comment.

MOORHEAD, Minn. – A Moorhead man received a 30-year sentence on Tuesday for kidnapping and raping a pregnant woman hired as an exotic dancer.

With good behavior and credit for time he has already spent behind bars in connection with the case, Jesse Paskey, 34, could be released after serving about 15 years.

Earlier this summer, Paskey was found guilty at trial in Clay County District Court on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of kidnapping and one count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

Prosecutors said a pregnant woman who went to Paskey’s apartment in December 2012 to perform a dance was instead tied up and raped repeatedly by Paskey while he held a knife to her throat.

At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, Paskey apologized to the woman he assaulted and told Judge Michelle Lawson: “It wasn’t right, I shouldn’t have done it.”

The woman read a letter in court and after the hearing talked about the effects the crimes have had on her life.

She said that because the attack happened during the holidays, every Christmas since has been tainted. She added, however, that the experience has resulted in a number of positive things for her, including greater knowledge of her own resiliency.

With the help of the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center, she said: “I now know that I’m stronger than I ever would have guessed. The whole ordeal has made me realize that I can overcome anything.”

Paskey was charged in December 2012, and at one point in the case, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25½ years.

The sentence and guilty plea were overturned on appeal after Paskey claimed prosecutors coerced the plea by threatening to file witness tampering charges against his mother based on phone calls and letters intercepted by the jail.

Paskey took the case to trial, and in June a jury found him guilty. 

As part of his latest sentence, he was given credit for having served about 4½ years.

The woman he attacked said after Tuesday’s hearing that the amount of time Judge Lawson handed Paskey, which was at the high end of state sentencing guidelines, was appropriate.

“It was the perfect sentence,” she said.

Lawson told Paskey the sentence he received reflected her concern over his past criminal record and what appeared to be “escalating conduct.”

A gunman opened fire near a St. Paul bar, shooting three people outside, police said. The group has injuries that are not life-threatening.

Officers were called to a report of an aggravated assault in the 800 block of Rice Street just after 2 a.m. Wednesday and found two people who had been shot outside Born’s Bar.

A third person, a man shot in the hand, had gone to the hospital on his own, according to police.

The police department initially said, based on preliminary information, that four people had been injured. Later in the day they said three were injured in the incident. Police also said that the shooter fired into the bar, but later clarified that the victims had been outside.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and there had been no arrests as of Wednesday afternoon.

The St. Paul Department of Safety and Inspections will look into whether there were any violations of the bar’s liquor license conditions when they get information from the police department about the shooting, said Dan Niziolek, DSI deputy director.

Born’s Bar, 899 Rice St., was the the scene of a fatal shooting earlier this summer. In that case, Carlos Michael Rogers of St. Paul was found outside the bar with a gunshot wound to the face in the early morning hours of June 11. Two people have been charged in his shooting.

A DSI inquiry after the homicide did not turn up any license violations, Niziolek said. Among other things, Born’s is required to have security staff working and to use a metal detector to check patrons and their bags.

DSI recently notified Born’s that they are pursuing adverse license action for not providing video footage, which is a condition of its license, after a stabbing that occurred in or near the bar in July, Niziolek said. DSI is seeking a $500 fine, which the bar has an opportunity to appeal.

The owner of Born’s could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A headless torso found on a beach off Copenhagen has been identified as that of missing Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who is believed to have died on an amateur-built submarine earlier this month, Danish police said Wednesday.

Wall, 30, was last seen alive on Aug. 10 on Danish inventor Peter Madsen’s submarine, which police believe he intentionally sank off Denmark’s eastern coast the following day.

Madsen, 46, who was then arrested on preliminary manslaughter charges, denies having anything to do with Wall’s disappearance. Her family says that the freelance journalist was working on a story about Madsen.

The torso was found Monday on a beach by a member of the public who was cycling on Copenhagen’s southern Amager island, near where she was believed to have died. Copenhagen police said Tuesday that her head, arms and legs had “deliberately been cut off” her body.

DNA tests confirmed the torso is Wall’s, Copenhagen police investigator Jens Moeller Jensen told reporters Wednesday. He said it was attached to a piece of metal “likely with the purpose to make it sink.”

The body “washed ashore after having been at sea for a while,” he said. He added police found marks on the torso indicating someone tried to press air out of the body so that it wouldn’t float.

Dried blood belonging to Wall was also found inside the submarine, he said.

“On Aug. 12, we secured a hair brush and a toothbrush (in Sweden) to ensure her DNA. We also found blood in the submarine and there is a match,” Moeller Jensen said.

The cause of the journalist’s death is not yet known, police said, adding they were still looking for the rest of her body.

Madsen, who remains in police custody on suspicion of manslaughter, initially told investigators that she disembarked from the submarine to a northern Copenhagen island several hours into their trip and that he didn’t know what happened to her afterward. He later told authorities “an accident occurred onboard that led to her death” and he “buried” her at sea.

Madsen’s defense lawyer said her client still maintains that he didn’t kill Wall, and that the discovery of her torso doesn’t mean he’s guilty.

“It doesn’t change my client’s explanation that an accident happened,” Betina Hald Engmark told Danish BT tabloid, adding “no matter what, we find it very positive that she has been found now.”

The journalist’s boyfriend alerted authorities Aug. 11 that the 40-ton, nearly 18-meter-long (60-foot-long) sub, named the UC3 Nautilus, hadn’t returned from a test run. The Danish navy then launched a rescue operation, including a search by two of its helicopters and three of its ships. Madsen was picked up by a private boat.

The navy said the sub had been seen sailing, but then sank shortly afterward. Police believe Madsen deliberately scuttled the submarine. Authorities later found it and brought it up onto land for investigation.

Madsen made headlines when he launched the submarine on May 3, 2008.

A self-taught aerospace engineer, Madsen was one of several entrepreneurs who founded an association known as Copenhagen Suborbitals to develop and construct a manned spacecraft and submarines.

The group split in 2014, and Nautilus, described as the world’s largest privately-built submarine, is currently owned by Madsen’s company Rocket Madsen Space Lab.

Wall, a Sweden-born freelance journalist, studied at the Sorbonne university in Paris, the London School of Economics and at Columbia University in New York, where she graduated with a master’s degree in journalism in 2013.

She lived in New York and Beijing, her family said, and had written for The New York Times, The Guardian, the South China Morning Post and Vice Magazine, among other publications.

Her family had told The Associated Press she was working on a piece on Madsen.

They added she had worked in many dangerous places as a journalist, and it was unimaginable “something could happen … just a few miles from the childhood home.”

In an email to The Associated Press, the family said it received the confirmation of her death “with boundless sadness and dismay,” adding “the tragedy has hit not only us and other families, but friends and colleagues all over the world.”

ZUMBROTA, Minn. — A Rochester man who authorities allege concocted a scheme to place a fictitious fourth individual in the driver’s seat in a fatal crash last week on U.S. 52 near Zumbrota  in southeastern Minnesota faces charges of vehicular homicide.

Jesse Jerold Juaire, 27, also is charged with driving while impaired in the fourth-degree for using methamphetamine the night before and driving after license cancellation. If convicted of felony vehicular homicide, he faces 10 years’ imprisonment and a $20,000 fine.

According to a criminal complaint, the Minnesota State Patrol responded to crash on U.S. 52 at 4:47 a.m. Friday. A 1997 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme was seen rolled over at the location and a trooper noted a female passenger had been ejected. Medics pronounced Cassandra Lynn Sis, 32, dead at the scene.

Neither Juaire nor a male passenger, Meless Lamar Bruton, 39, of  Austin, Minn., suffered injuries. However, authorities say, the two men made up the fictitious driver story. However, after deputies and a state trooper assessed the scene and used a police dog in a search, Juaire, who owned the car, admitted to being the driver.

Juaire was taken to the Zumbrota Police Department on suspicion of stimulant use after the trooper noticed the suspect was having a difficult time standing still. Juaire’s heart rate was reported at 120 beats per minute, above the average range of 60-90.

While speaking to an officer, Juaire stated he had used meth the evening before the crash.

Juaire was transferred to the Goodhue County jail.

With thousands of people expected to travel through St. Paul on the way to the Minnesota State Fair, police said Wednesday they’re cracking down on distracted driving in the Capital city.

Beginning Wednesday, officers will be paying extra attention to people who are texting and driving, or otherwise distracted behind the wheel. The State Fair starts Thursday.

The police department said St. Paul officers will be taking “a zero tolerance approach to distracted driving” and issuing citations for distracted and inattentive driving.

Officers in plain clothes will be patrolling the city to be on the lookout for distracted drivers, and police said they’ll have “aggressive enforcement in the busiest areas of the city where most pedestrian and vehicle crashes occur.”

The initiative aims to improve safety for drivers and pedestrians, and increase awareness of the risks of distracted driving, the police department said.

There have been 106 pedestrian crashes in St. Paul this year, resulting in 90 injuries and two deaths; there have been 50 crashes involving bicyclists and motorists.

Despite her attorney’s claim that a judge’s letter taints her chances for a fair trial locally, Diamond Reynolds’ assault case will still be heard in Ramsey County.

Stating that attorney Mike Padden had failed to show any law or facts supporting his argument, Ramsey County District Court Judge Elena Ostby denied his request to move Reynolds’ case out of the metro area.

Her decision was delivered during a brief court hearing Thursday morning.

Padden’s request was based in part on a letter Judge William H. Leary III wrote to jurors who presided over the Jeronimo Yanez trial following their decision to acquit the former St. Anthony police officer of manslaughter charges in the death of Philando Castile.

Yanez, who is Hispanic, said at trial that he fatally shot Castile during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights last summer after seeing the 32-year-old black man grab the gun that he had just moments before told the officer he was carrying in his vehicle.

Castile, who was licensed to carry a firearm, was driving home from the grocery store with Reynolds and her young daughter at the time. Reynolds was Castile’s girlfriend and she testified at Yanez’s trial that the police officer’s decision to shoot Castile was reckless as her boyfriend was actually trying to access his wallet, not his gun, when Yanez shot him.

Following the verdict, Leary penned a letter to jurors saying that while he could not disclose his own opinion about the legality of Yanez’s conduct, they could rest assured their assessment was grounded in the law.

Yanez had been charged with second-degree manslaughter and dangerous discharge of a firearm after fatally shooting Philando Castile.

“Your verdict was fully supported by a fair interpretation of the evidence and the law you were obligated to apply,” Leary told jurors in his June 23 letter.

Padden argued that the letter did, in fact, reveal Leary’s opinion on the case and that it being made public disqualified any other Ramsey County judge from fairly presiding over Reynolds’ case as she was a key witness at Yanez’s trial.

He further argued that press coverage of her case added to her inability to get a fair trial in Ramsey County.

Assistant Washington County attorney, Siv Yurichuk, disagreed. She argued in court Thursday that while Reynolds was a witness at Yanez’s trial, her case otherwise had no overlap with that legal proceeding.

“The facts have nothing to do with each other. The parties have nothing to do with each other,” Yurichuk said.

She further argued that any other issues raised by media coverage of her case or Leary’s letter could be addressed through a thorough jury selection process, where attorneys for both sides would have the opportunity to ask prospective jurors about their opinion of Reynolds, Leary’s letter, or other issues that might impact the trial.

Reynolds, 28, faces charges for allegedly attacking a woman with a hammer in St. Paul last winter along with two other accomplices.

Ostby ultimately sided with Yurichuk, saying that neither Padden’s argument regarding Leary’s letter, nor his claims regarding pretrial media coverage, were convincing.

“(I) had absolutely nothing to do with the Yanez trial,” Ostby said. “I consider myself to be fair and impartial. I see absolutely no reason to remove myself. I have not bias or prejudice toward Ms. Diamond Reynolds.”

Padden said after the hearing that the decision was disappointing.

“It’s unfortunate that we are placed in this situation due to the unfortunate letter of Judge Leary — which was publicized by him for the whole world to see. We respect Judge Ostby’s decision, but we are contemplating an immediate appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals.”

Padden also filed a motion for the charges to be dismissed against Reynolds. A hearing on that motion will be held in late October.

A 54-year-old Duluth man is facing his 11th DWI charge in St. Louis County.

Todd Alan Murphy was charged in State District Court on Tuesday with two counts of first-degree driving while impaired and one count each of driving after cancellation, possession of an open container and no proof of insurance. The DWI, a felony, carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and/or a $14,000 fine.

He is being held without bail in the St. Louis County Jail on a Minnesota Department of Corrections warrant.

According to the criminal complaint:

Duluth police officers were called to a vehicle with a man slumped over at the wheel in the area of the Holiday Stationstore, 200 S. Boundary Ave., at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday. Officers noted that the vehicle was running and in drive, with its headlights on and brake lights illuminated. Officers were able to put the vehicle into park and turn it off, during which time Murphy didn’t wake up or make any noises. Officers found an open Busch Light beer can between his legs, the complaint said. He was unable to answer officers’ questions about what he had been doing prior to the incident and whose vehicle he was in. Officers learned that he had a warrant for his arrest and that he had a prior felony DWI.

The complaint stated a breath test showed that Murphy had a blood-alcohol content of 0.2 percent — two and a half times the legal limit for operating a vehicle.

Murphy was convicted of two DWIs in 1993, followed by convictions for gross misdemeanor DWI in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002, according to Minnesota court records. He was convicted of a felony DWI in 2004 and sentenced to four years in prison, followed by five years supervised probation, records show. He was again convicted of a felony DWI in 2013 and sentenced to four years in prison followed by five years probation, according to court records.

Murphy has been convicted six times of driving with a canceled driver’s license in Minnesota.

Minneapolis police are investigating the shooting of a bystander near a downtown bus stop.

Authorities say the man happened to be standing near two other men who were arguing about 7:15 p.m. Tuesday at Hennepin Avenue and Sixth Street.

One of the arguing men shot at the other and missed, hitting the bystander in the hip.

Police spokeswoman Sgt. Catherine Michal said the man underwent surgery at a hospital. He wasn’t immediately identified.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said part of the incident was captured on camera. Arradondo said the victim was in stable condition.

No arrests were immediately made.

The former controller of an exclusive St. Paul golf club has been indicted by the U.S. attorney in connection with a $1 million embezzlement scheme.

Julie Ann Lee, 53, of Farmington was indicted on four counts of wire fraud and six counts of filing false tax returns, Acting U.S. Attorney Gregory Brooker announced Wednesday in Minneapolis.

While she worked as the controller of the Town & Country Club from 2008 to 2016, the indictment says Lee devised a scheme to steal more than $1 million.

And, Lee also made payments to her own personal credit cards directly from club accounts in the amount of $600,000, according to the indictment.

Authorities say Lee spent the money on personal travel, home improvements, her mortgage as well as vehicles such as a 2013 Dodge Charger, a 2015 GMC Sierra K3500 pickup truck, a motorcycle and a recreational vehicle.

She also purchased 81 acres of land in northern Minnesota, according to authorities.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Lee had no comment on the matter.

Lee attempted to hide her theft by using advances on the club’s line of credit at Alliance Bank, authorities said. Due to the embezzlement, Town & Country had insufficient funds for its quarterly payroll tax payments to the IRS, authorities said. To hide the shortage of money, Lee filed false quarterly payroll tax returns with the IRS that understated the club’s tax liability.

As a result of late tax payments, authorities say the club incurred more than $300,000 in interest and penalties to the IRS.

Members of the club were notified in a letter by management last winter of a possible embezzlement case. The letter indicated that on Dec. 2 “evidence of potentially significant financial improprieties involving the club were discovered.”

The Town & Country Club dates back to 1888 and is the home of the first golf course to be established in Minnesota. Overlooking the Mississippi River in the Merriam Park neighborhood, it has an 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, a heated outdoor swimming pool, fitness center, and dining, banquet and meeting facilities.

The case was investigated by the IRS, the U.S. Secret Service and the St. Paul Police Department.

BEMIDJI, Minn. — A motorcycle passenger died after the driver crashed while running from police Tuesday night in northern Minnesota.

A Minnesota State Patrol report said the crash happened at about 6 p.m. on Minnesota 89 northwest of Bemidji after the driver of the motorcycle fled the scene following a traffic stop.

Killed in the crash was 32-year-old Nicole Annette Hahn of Howard Lake, the State Patrol said.

The motorcycle’s driver, 34-year-old Michael Joseph Bahl of Maplewood, was taken to Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, N.D., with life-threatening injuries, the State Patrol report said.

The report did not indicate why Bahl fled the scene or the nature of the traffic stop.

Brittany Rock wakes up in the middle of the night from what feels like a heart attack; her heart and mind racing as intense waves of panic, guilt and grief jolt her from sleep.

“I live with this anxiety, depression, worry,” Rock, 21, told a Ramsey County District Court judge Thursday. “Have you ever lay in the middle of the night with your mind racing? Your heart beating as though it’s irregular? Or feeling like you might die? Obsessing over death because … you stared death in the eyes?

“I was supposed to see my sister in every other way except that way,” Rock continued.

She spoke quietly and quickly as she stood near the front of the courtroom, reading from a statement she wrote to read on the day Kalisa Chardale Smith, 29, was sentenced for her role in Rock’s sister’s murder.

Samantha Burnette, 16, was fatally shot during a robbery attempt last Sept. 25 in an alley in the St. Paul Payne-Phalen neighborhood.

She, Rock and another woman were led there by Smith, a friend of Rock’s who told the group she needed to run a quick errand before driving them home. They met up the night before to hang out and spent the evening driving around and socializing.

In actuality, Smith’s boyfriend, Christopher Calloway, 33, waited for them in the alley with a gun along with two other men — Davonte Bobo and Vincent Reanell Harris —  who planned to rob them.

Shortly after they pulled up and Smith got out of the car, the robbery ensued. One of the men pistol-whipped Rock. When Burnette tried to intervene and hit one of the gunmen on the head with a bottle, she was shot dead.

The Minnetonka High School student died in the alley as Smith and Calloway fled in a car.

Rock has spent the nearly 11 months since wondering what she could have done differently.

“Do you know what it’s like … to look certain people in the eye and believe that they don’t somehow blame you,” she said during her statement, her voice shaking as she cried. “Although I didn’t pull the trigger or set it up, I could have saved her, somehow, some way … and I failed her.”

“I will never forget the look in her eyes. The way she last looked at me, scared and terrified,” Rock recalled of her sister. “I miss her. I miss everything about her. Her smile. Her laugh … The more time that goes by, the more I miss her.”

Smith’s attorney also spoke at length at the sentencing, arguing before Judge Jennifer Frisch that Smith’s role was less significant in Burnette’s death because she didn’t know her boyfriend had a gun or that the robbery would turn violent.

He described Calloway as a “domineering thug” who was the principal player in what happened.

“To say that Kalisa Smith planned, masterminded this robbery … is just beyond all the facts,” defense attorney Richard Virnig said.

For those reasons, he asked the judge to sentence Smith in the middle of the roughly five-to-12-year sentencing range agreed to in the plea deal reached with state prosecutors in the case. Per the deal, Smith pleaded guilty in June to one count of second-degree unintentional murder in Burnette’s death.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Tanya O’Brien disagreed with Virnig’s characterization of Smith’s culpability and told the judge that, but for Smith, Burnette would have never even met Calloway.

“She had all of the control of the situation. … She was the friend. … She didn’t have to lead (Burnette) into an alley that night,” O’Brien said. “She drove those girls into that warzone.”

The judge ultimately sided with the state and sentenced Smith to nearly 12 years in prison, the maximum allowed under the plea agreement.

With her family sitting in the gallery behind her, Smith stood quietly for much of the hearing.

When given the chance to speak, she tearfully apologized for what she’d done.

“I”m really sorry,” she said. “I apologize to the (Burnette) family, to my family, that I made this happen.”

Forgiveness feels impossible, Rock and Burnette’s grandparents said at the hearing.

Burnette lived in Minnetonka with her grandparents, who had raised her since she was 1 year old. She spent about every other weekend in St. Paul with her mother and Rock before she died.

The young teen was set to graduate from Minnetonka High School next year.

Her family described her as a loving, kind and accepting person, devoted to her family. She liked skateboarding, listening to music and hanging out with her nieces. Despite the difficulties fetal alcohol syndrome presented in her life, she worked hard at school and talked of one day becoming a lawyer.

“She was the bright light in our lives,” said Bonnie Boudreau, Burnette’s grandmother. “We are so proud of the young lady she was becoming.”

Her grandfather, James Simmons, said he misses fishing and camping with her, and their small, daily interactions.

“She’ll never get to come home and give me a hug and tell me how her day was again,” Simmons said. “There are too many kids dying in the streets … She just missed out on a pot of gold, that’s all I got.”

Smith was the last to be sentenced in Burnette’s death. Calloway was sentenced earlier this month to about 30 years in prison.

Bobo, 25, received 15 years. Harris, 30, who did not have a gun during the incident and was convicted of only first-degree aggravated robbery, was sentenced to about four years.