Dan Lytle walked away after his motorcycle was hit by a car decades ago, though the accident left him with a limp.

On Thursday, as the 54-year-old tried to cross a St. Paul street with his cane, he was hit by a car again — but this time he didn’t survive.

The crash happened at John Ireland and Kellogg boulevards at about 6 a.m. The driver was heading east on Kellogg Boulevard when he struck the man, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.

Officers found Lytle lying unconscious in the intersection. The driver who struck him was “attempting to assist the victim in this case with first aid,” Ernster said. A witness, who works in the medical field and happened to be in the area, was also trying to help the man.

Paramedics pronounced Lytle, of North St. Paul, dead.

The driver is cooperating with investigators. There was no preliminary indication that he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs, Ernster said.

The collision happened before the sun was up. Investigators will be working to determine whether Lytle was in the crosswalk — he was found in the intersection, but officers didn’t know whether the force of the crash caused him to land there, Ernster said.

One of Lytle’s sisters, Theresa Rogers, said an investigator told her it appears he was in the crosswalk because they found his glasses and hat there.

“I guess the driver was really shaken up and said he didn’t see him until it was too late and tried to swerve, but couldn’t fast enough,” Rogers said. “… Dan was a guy with a good heart. This is such a sad situation and I wish I knew more of what happened.”

HE WAS A DAD, GRANDPA

Lytle’s sister doesn’t know where he was heading, but he may have been going to see a friend in the area.

He is survived by a daughter and two grandchildren. Lytle grew up in St. Paul’s North End with six siblings.

Lytle enjoyed drawing and would design his own tattoos, which he would tattoo on himself and other people. He loved fishing and cooking.

“He’d make anything out of nothing,” Rogers said. “He’d come to my house when I thought I had nothing in my fridge and whip up a dinner.”

About 30 years ago, Lytle’s leg was seriously injured when a car struck his motorcycle. As a result, that leg was about 4 inches shorter than the other and he used a cane.

This winter, Lytle slipped on the ice and broke his ankle on his “good” leg, Rogers said. He needed a walking cast and had been using a walker, but it appeared he had the cane with him Thursday morning — it was not at his house, while his walker was.

“He wasn’t running (across the road Thursday morning), that’s for sure,” Rogers said.

3 PEDESTRIANS KILLED IN CRASHES THIS YEAR

Lytle was the second pedestrian to die in less than a week in St. Paul and the third this year. There were three pedestrians and one bicyclist killed in crashes last year.

On Saturday about 2:30 a.m., Taressa Wilson-Snyder was found lying in the road on Maryland Avenue near Desoto Street. The 22-year-old died at a hospital.

The driver left and didn’t report the crash. On Wednesday, police said they identified the driver as a 17-year-old and interviewed him. Prosecutors will review the case for potential charges.

In January, 19-year-old Zahra Mohamed died after a driver struck her and a friend as they crossed at McKnight Road and Burns Avenue.

St. Paul police will be starting the “Stop for Me” campaign again in April. Police have done the same in previous years, aiming to bring awareness and enforcement to ensure drivers are stopping for pedestrians.

“As we’re getting into spring, it’s lighter longer, the weather is nicer, more people will be out,” Ernster said. “I think we all need to slow down, pay attention, … so we can make the roads safer for everybody.”

A Dakota County man who’d been caught stealing iPads from Target is accused of using University of Minnesota funds to buy 78 computers over 14 months and selling them for cash.

Michael James McDaniel, 34, of Lilydale, is charged in Hennepin County District Court with four counts of felony theft by swindle involving $134,544 in computers.

McDaniel allegedly made the purchases between September 2017 and October 2018 while working as an analyst and administrative consultant in the U’s Center for Magnetic Resonance Research. He was fired in November.

University police said in a charging document that McDaniel pawned the computers or sold them over Craigslist. He made more than $125,000 in cash bank deposits in that time.

Meanwhile, police say, financial records show McDaniel was making payments to a dozen loan companies and multiple credit cards and withdrawing large amounts of cash at or near four casinos.

He’s also traveled to Italy, California, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, Tennessee, Iowa and the Brainerd Lakes area in the last two years.

The U questioned McDaniel in October after a finance employee noticed a large number of computers had been ordered through the U’s bookstores but never were registered as U property.

McDaniel reportedly told human resources that three unidentified men had assaulted him outside his workplace in September 2017 and forced him to make the purchases.

“I am truly sorry for somehow being in the wrong place at the wrong time and I want to do whatever I can to remedy this if possible,” he wrote in a letter.

He gave the same explanation to police, who found no evidence the story was true.

With help from Apple and Craigslist, police located two people who had bought one of the U computers at a coffee shop. The buyers identified McDaniel as the seller, and bank records show he deposited the $800 in cash the same day.

About the same time as the alleged computer thefts, McDaniel had been stealing iPads from numerous Target stores.

He was charged with theft by swindle in December 2017 and agreed to a diversion program a month later after admitting he bought iPads and returned empty boxes to six different stores in October 2017.

When police questioned him about the computer thefts last September, he said the same unidentified men had forced him to “prove” himself by first stealing iPads.

McDaniel made his first court appearance last week and was released without bond. He’s due back in court April 8.

Hired in November 2007, McDaniel worked for various departments as an accountant and financial analyst. He moved to his most recent role in April 2015.

His yearly pay was $126,824, records show.

Shotguns, a syringe, maps, a “kidnapping kit,” latex gloves, duct tape and handcuffs were among items Ramsey County Sheriff deputies found inside a 39-year-old Wisconsin man’s vehicle and home before he was charged with first-degree burglary and attempted kidnapping.

The narrative detailed in the criminal complaint filed against James Homme Thursday indicates he may have plotted something more serious.

Authorities searched Homme’s property after a Shoreview woman reported that a masked man, whom she suspected was her ex-husband, broke into her house March 13, according to the complaint.

Deputies found a black case with two vials inside his Kia Optima, along with a separate locked case containing more than $5,000 in hundred dollar bills and two shotgun receipts from purchases made in mid February, charges say.

When they searched his house in Altoona, Wis., they found the shotguns, along with a stun gun and a “kidnapping kit” that contained rope, binoculars, latex gloves, duct tape, handcuffs, a face-mask, blind fold, garbage bags and other items, according to authorities.

Deputies also found two GPS tracker boxes along with a fishing magnet often used to attach tracking devices to vehicles, the complaint said.

Law enforcement began investigating the case after the Shoreview woman reported her home had been broken into around 1:45 a.m. on March 13.

Video captured on a camera located near her garage showed a man wearing a face mask, tan jacket and a blue-hooded sweatshirt approach her garage around that time and make his way toward the structure’s keypad, according to the complaint.

The woman has her garage door rigged so it will only lift partway, so the intruder was forced to eventually crawl underneath the slightly ajar door, the complaint said.

About three minutes later, the man was seen on camera crawling back out and leaving the scene, authorities say.

Investigators plan on searching the vehicles the woman had parked in her garage at the time to see if one of them had been affixed with a tracking magnets, according to the charges.

Both the woman and her father were home at the time, and the woman told police she was certain Homme — with whom she’s had ongoing, contentious legal battles — was the culprit.

He was arrested after investigators got a search warrant that placed Homme’s cell phone in the area of the burglary around the time it took place, the complaint said.

He declined to provide a statement to law enforcement, charges say.

Also inside his house, law enforcement found what they characterized as “the outline of plan.”

“1. First stop-box, hockey bag, duct tape, hand cuff, blow torch, nails, garbage bags, my fresh clothes,” it started, according to the complaint.

“2. House code, shoes off, bedroom blitz, dt gag, handcuff, legs, hood) plus pillow … 3. Box her in trunk. Drive Element to Wilson P. Put box in trunk,” it continued.

Another page of the plan contained what appeared to be a script, authorities say.

“The length’s (sic) I go to, to have a conversation with you,” it read. “I have questions for you. I have some things I want to say, and then we’re done. I don’t want to hear any bullshit, I want you to speak from the heart. Alcohol helps the truth come out. Security footage has to go. How many recording devices do you have? Where are they stored. … Passwords?”

Law enforcement also found a hand-drawn map of Homme’s ex-wife’s home including arrows pointing to the locations of her security cameras, the complaint said. A second map showed the surrounding area, including the location of the Superior Landfill in Superior, Wis., charges say.

Homme’s ex-wife told deputies that she lives in fear of Homme and has been worried that he may attempt a “murder-suicide” involving her and her children, the complaint said.

She was a granted a restraining order against him after their divorce in 2017, but it expired last May, charges say. She secured another one after the break-in, according to court records.

A couple months before the burglary, a child support magistrate issued an order suspending her child-support obligations to Homme as he had moved nearly 100 miles away and was no longer co-parenting with her, charges say.

A few weeks later, Ramsey County Child Child Protection became involved in their case, authorities say.

Homme also recently told her son of his ex, “she’s not going to be your mom much longer,” the complaint said.

Homme has no criminal convictions on his record in Minnesota.

The Ramsey County sheriff’s office issued a statement Thursday afternoon commending the “proactive” work of its officers, saying they helped “prevent” what could have been “a tragic outcome.”

“The facts outlined in the complaint speak to the seriousness of this case and our actions reflect the priority that we placed on this investigation,” the statement read.

Homme made his first appearance on the charges Thursday afternoon. No attorney was listed for him in court records.

Jeanne Nutter, the social worker who helped lead Jayme Closs to safety after the 13-year-old Barron girl was abducted and held captive in Gordon for 88 days, was honored Thursday for her outstanding service by Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Secretary Emilie Amundson during a ceremony at the state Capitol in Madison.

She was nominated for the award by a former intern, who said Jayme couldn’t have found a better person to help her, adding that Nutter has been a “role model for many social workers over the years.”

Nutter serves as an academic adviser for the University of Wisconsin’s School of Social Work. She has had a long career in the field of social work. Nutter was one of six child-welfare professionals to receive the 2019 Caring for Kids Award.

Amundson said: “Child welfare professionals are devoted to helping people overcome difficult situations and cope with the trauma they have experienced. They are the unsung heroes within our communities and I am proud to honor such amazing and compassionate individuals — many of whom dedicated their entire professional lives to the children and families of Wisconsin.”

A 17-year-old who struck a pedestrian with his vehicle in St. Paul last weekend and fled the scene as the woman lay bleeding in the roadway told officers his actions were prompted by panic, authorities say.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Johnathan Xu Ying Yang Friday afternoon with one count of criminal vehicular homicide for his role in the fatal collision, according to the criminal complaint.

Officers who responded to the crash scene at Maryland Avenue and Desoto Street around 2:30 a.m. March 16 found Taressa Diana Wilson-Snyder lying on her back in the street with several people gathered around her, charges say.

She was unconscious and had blood coming from her nose and mouth, according to legal documents.

She was taken to Regions Hospital in critical condition and died later that evening.

No one at the scene knew who the woman was or saw what happened, but officers at the scene observed tire marks nearby and noted several pieces of what appeared to be “burnt orange” plastic pieces from a vehicle around the scene.

They used the fragments to put together a vehicle description via media and asked the public to call in with any information about the crash.

Investigators were led to Yang after the owner of an auto shop in Maplewood called police to say that he’d seen news of the hit and run and was concerned that a vehicle he’d been asked to repair hours after the collision may have been involved.

The vehicle was a red 2004 Honda Odyssey that had extensive damage to its hood, bumper and windshield, the caller reported, noting that the young man who dropped it off asked for the cash price for a windshield replacement before leaving the vehicle at the shop in an Uber, according to the complaint.

Officers eventually determined that the vehicle belonged to Yang’s father.

He and his 17-year-old son agreed to speak to officers at police headquarters Wednesday morning.

While there, the teen initially said he’d been in a different accident, but eventually admitted to his involvement in the one near Maryland and Desoto, the complaint said.

He told investigators he was returning from visiting friends in a northern suburb early that morning when he got into the collision, legal documents say.

Saying it was dark at the time, Yang first said he didn’t know what he’d hit at the time, but later acknowledged that he knew it was a person, according to the complaint.

He said the pedestrian was wearing all black so it had been very difficult to see her. He reportedly denied that he’d been drinking that night.

After hitting her, the teen said he panicked, according to the complaint.

The Ramsey County medical examiner determined that Wilson-Snyder died of complications from multiple traumatic injuries.

The St. Paul woman was the mother of a 5-year-old girl. Her mother, Sarah Wilson, has said she may have been walking to her boyfriend’s residence when she was struck.

Larson coordinated a meal train for Wilson-Snyder’s family on her East Side Community Page & Neighbors Facebook page and is planning a benefit 2-6 p.m. May 4 at the Arcade-Phalen American Legion Post.

A person looking for shed deer antlers in a vacant lot in Roseville found a dead body Friday afternoon.

Roseville police were called to the lot on the northeast corner of Dale Street and Roselawn Avenue about 12:15 p.m. and confirmed that the person was dead. The lot appears to be part of or adjacent to Tamarack Park.

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is assisting with the investigation.

The identity and cause of death are undetermined, police said.

The body was taken to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s office for identification and an autopsy.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Roseville Police Department at 651-767-0640.

A 46-year-old Brainerd man was killed late Thursday when he was hit by a car in Crow Wing County.

Joshua James Carner was walking on Highway 210 east of Cypress Drive in Baxter about 11 p.m. when he was struck by a Honda CRV traveling west, according to the Minnesota State Patrol.

The Honda was driven by Ben Yu Hong, 50, of Baxter, with one passenger, Pei Qiong Tang, 47, also of Baxter.

The Brainerd Police Department assisted at the scene.

The crash is under investigation.

Minneapolis police are seeking the public’s help in identifying a man who allegedly robbed a T-Mobile store at gunpoint and tied up its employees.

At 2:43 p.m. March 10, three suspects walked into the store at 1710 New Brighton Blvd. One pulled a gun and the others forced the employees into the back room where they were tied up.

The suspects stole several cell phones and electronic devices from the store.

Two of the three have been caught and charged with aggravated robbery, according to Minneapolis police. The one with the gun remains at large.

Police released surveillance images Friday in hopes of finding him. The video can be viewed at www.insidempd.com.

Anyone with information is asked to call CrimeStoppers of Minnesota via phone at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through their website at http://crimestoppersmn.org. All tips are anonymous and a person providing information leading to an arrest and conviction may be eligible for a financial reward.

The body found in a vacant lot in Roseville on Friday has been identified by family as Ralph Latrez Bell, missing from Stillwater since December 2018.

Kaila Holmes, Bell’s fiancee, confirmed that the body was Bell’s on Saturday after posting on Facebook that he was no longer missing.

“We found him,” she posted, “but not what happened to him.”

The couple have three children, one born Saturday.

The Roseville Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension have not yet confirmed the identity of the body that was discovered by someone looking for shed deer antlers. The body was found near some trees on the lot northeast of Dale Street and Roselawn Avenue.

Holmes declined an interview, saying, “I’m stressed, confused and don’t know what happened.”

Family told police that Bell, 24, left his apartment in the 1600 block of Greeley Street around 10 p.m. Dec. 20 after having an argument with his fiancee.

The blue Chevrolet Impala he was believed to be driving was found an hour later with the engine idling in the 800 block of Cope Avenue West in Roseville, about 1.3 miles north of the vacant lot. Witnesses told police that they saw the car speed to the end of the dead-end street and stop, and that a man got out and ran off.

When Bell never returned, the family called the police and began handing out fliers and posting Bell’s information on social media, hoping to find him.

When news broke that a body had been found not far from where Bell’s car was discovered, friends began speculating on social media that it might be Bell.

Holmes, having just delivered Bell’s son, asked people to give her time.

“Your son is here and not surprised looks just like our first 2 babies,” she posted to Bell just after the delivery at 1:09 a.m. “I love you so much and wish you were here to see your first son be born. … I love you.”

Holmes named the baby Ralph Latrez Bell, Jr.

She asked friends not to stop looking for answers in Bell’s death.

“He deserves justice,” she said.

It’s a well-known law enforcement tactic.

A police officer goes online pretending to be minor. An adult messages the undercover officer, assuming they are connecting with someone underage. The talk turns sexual and a meeting is arranged. Then, the adult shows up to find law enforcement instead of the minor and gets busted.

Of the eight cases charged in Ramsey County alone since January, one came with a twist.

Masudee Adesina Ojetokun showed up to meet a 15-year-old girl in New Brighton last fall, according to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court. But the 31-year-old St. Paul man instead was confronted by someone from a group aimed at exposing and publicly humiliating suspected child predators.

It’s the first case involving Predator Hunters USA to be charged in Ramsey County.

More could be coming as the group continues to stage controversial citizen-stings around the metro area and beyond.

EXPOSING ALLEGED PREDATORS

Joshua Harwell started the effort five months ago and his Facebook page already has 74,000 followers.

Some of the videos posted to it — which capture Harwell “exposing” alleged predators on camera — garner upward of 100,000 views.

More than 1,000 people reacted to a video posted about a month ago from a Duluth incident.

“Thank you for what you do to keep our kids safe,” one person wrote as footage streamed live on Facebook.

“Get a rope. Stretch his neck,” wrote another.

Law enforcement officials interviewed for this story, including those with Ramsey, Dakota and Anoka counties, St. Paul police and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, said they have significant concerns about the group’s work.

The biggest worry is someone getting hurt.

“You have to balance what they are trying to accomplish against the potential unintended consequences,” said Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo. “Say they show up at a scene and a potential defendant panics and takes off at a high speed and goes through a red light and hits and kills a family of three. Or a defendant shows up and gets enraged and kills somebody.”

Harwell recorded his confrontation of Masudee Adesina Ojetokun outside a gas station in New Brighton in November. Ojetokun was charged in February with one count of engaging in electronic communication relating or describing sexual conduct with a child. Authorities began investigating his case after Harwell’s group tipped them off to Ojetokun’s alleged behavior.

‘KICK ROCKS’

Harwell, who lives in Eagan, sometimes responds to the comments as he sits in his car, camera rolling, waiting for suspected predators.

The suspects who do approach him often hear the same message from him.

“Kick Rocks.”

It’s become Harwell’s tagline. It’s screen-printed on hats and sweatshirts he sells promoting his group’s work.

It essentially means “get out of here,” and Harwell almost always says it to suspects he encounters.

Harwell is wearing his “Kick Rocks” sweatshirt as he recounts his first time going after a suspected predator.

It was set up after Harwell started noticing groups in his Facebook feed engaging in so-called “predator hunting” in other states.

‘A HUGE ADRENALINE RUSH’

The father of two set up an online dating profile on a site called MeetMe and started phishing.

“Within like 30 minutes, I had probably 15 messages,” Harwell said. “Once I started telling them my age, 15, 14, 13, they had no regard for it at all. It was unreal.”

Days later, a man he chatted with while pretending to be a 13-year-old girl asked to meet. They picked a gas station in Forest Lake — where Harwell says his group is based.

“It was a huge adrenaline rush,” Harwell recalled of approaching the guy. “But, uh, I called the guy a pedophile. I swore at him. I lost my temper. It wasn’t the greatest.”

Now, he holds his temper.

“Yelling and screaming, it doesn’t do anything,” he said. “If you can just talk to them then maybe they’ll open up. You might get your message across.”

It’s one of many lessons Harwell learned since that first exposure. He now runs a team of about 25 volunteers, each charged with different tasks.

Some are decoys, setting up dating profiles online where they pose as minors and converse and eventually arrange to meet with adults interested in sexual interaction with minors.

Others work as Harwell’s security and accompany him to exposures. Harwell and his security are always armed, he said, though no one has ever had to draw a gun at any of his roughly 60 exposures.

Other members operate the group’s website and Facebook page, monitoring it for comments that break the group’s rules, such as outing the location of an exposure too soon or calling out the suspect’s family.

‘WE DON’T WISH HARM UPON THEM’

Harwell said he adamantly opposes violence or harassing people’s loved ones.

“We get a lot of people who say, ‘Kick their ass.’ But we don’t wish harm upon them, we want to get them convicted and move on,” Harwell said. “That’s why we bring security, to protect me and the predator.”

Other volunteers serve as liaisons with law enforcement, with whom the group is increasingly trying to work.

The group sends everything it collects before and after an exposure — such as chat logs and videos — to the appropriate law enforcement agency in hopes it will lead to charges, Harwell said.

He’s not doing this because he wants to be a cop, though he did briefly go to school to become one years ago, Harwell says.

And the snowplower and house painter says it’s not about fame. He also claims it’s not about power, and quickly swats away the notion he’s a vigilante.

So why does he do it?

“I feel like exposing these guys will help stop them. The humiliation will help stop them,” Harwell says. “The things that these guys say are very explicit. … If a real child showed up, that child’s life would be ruined. If it’s us they run into and not that child, maybe they will think twice about doing it again.”

KNOWS WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE THAT CHILD

Here’s the other reason: Harwell knows what it feels like to be that child.

He said he was sexually abused by an adult he knew growing up. Ashamed and confused, he never told anyone until years later, he said. The person was never criminally charged.

Harwell got quiet and looked out the window when asked to describe his experience.

“I just closed myself off and avoided it,” he said. “A lot of (victims) don’t talk about it. It’s a scar that they don’t want to reopen.”

Now he’s talking about it more than ever. A lot of volunteers on his team are reportedly past victims, and his group hears from others all the time.

“We get so many messages. ‘Hey, I was a victim. What you guys are doing is amazing.’ … Some have never told nobody before and they say feel comfortable telling us,” Harwell said. “It’s inspiring.”

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

The team is careful about who it will accept, Harwell says. Every volunteer applicant is screened and trained.

They don’t take people who can’t commit enough time, Harwell said. Nor those who don’t want to use their personal picture on dating apps. Fake ones raise red flags for potential perpetrators, he said.

They’re also screening for people seeking attention, or power. Extra care is given to volunteers who’ve been victims in the past, Harwell added, noting the work can trigger past trauma.

His team includes eight administrators and 15 decoys, including three head decoys, who oversee and train the others.

Decoys — who operate on over 30 dating apps — are taught the rules of engagement, several of which Harwell says are based on what the group knows law enforcement needs to build a chargeable case.

The decoy has to share his or her age at least three times, for example, and can never be the one to initiate conversation. The decoy also has to wait for the other to turn the conversation sexual, and to ask to meet.

BEHIND THE CAMERA

Harwell is the man behind the camera at every exposure.

Sitting in his car at the meeting locations, he often instructs decoys to ask the person to go inside and grab a Snickers or a Sprite from the gas station they agreed to meet at.

That way, Harwell knows he’s got the right person when they come out with the requested item.

He admits to once getting it wrong, a situation caused by a cascade of coincidences, he says. Harwell wound up apologizing profusely to the guy, who turned out to be a fan of the group and was understanding of the mistake.

Harwell repeats the same thing every time he starts an exposure.

“Hi, my name’s Josh. I’m recording for your safety as well as mine. I’m not law enforcement. You’re free to go at anytime. Who are you here to meet?”

Sometimes the person rolls up his car window and leaves. Other times, they call Harwell a liar. Some talk for awhile.

The majority of those he’s exposed so far have been white men between 30 and 60 years old, Harwell said.

‘WHY ARE YOU HERE AGAIN?’

Harwell managed to keep one guy he exposed recently in Duluth around for several minutes.

After persistent questioning, Harwell — camera rolling — gets the man to admit that he was there to meet who he thought was a 15-year-old girl, and that he told her online he’d bring condoms.

“You are here to meet with a 15-year-old child and do disgusting things that you said you wanted to do with that child. You realize if that was a real child, you realize the harm you could have done to that child?” Harwell responds.

“Yeah. I do. I do,” the man responds.

“Then why are you here again?” Harwell asks.

“I don’t know, man. I don’t know. OK,” the man responds. “I don’t know. Honestly. OK?”

After more badgering, Harwell hands over a card he gives out at his exposures. It includes phone numbers for mental health, suicide prevention and sex addiction hotlines.

After informing the man he’ll be turning everything over to Duluth police, he jumps to his slogan:

“Leave our children alone. … Kick Rocks,” he tells the man, still filming as he drives away.

LAW ENFORCEMENT CAUTIONS ABOUT RISKS

So far, the group’s efforts have led to a handful of arrests. Ramsey, Anoka and Hennepin counties have each charged at least one case.

Still, law enforcement officials like Palumbo aren’t in favor of the group’s efforts.

“When law enforcement does a takedown, they are always minimizing the dangers to others,” Palumbo said. “People acting like law enforcement (don’t have) … the wherewithal to make sure (the exposure) is effective and minimizes harm to others.”

St. Paul police Sgt. Mike Ernster said much of the same, adding that officers still need to conduct their own investigations into the group’s work. That can involve everything from reviewing chat logs, verifying IP addresses and interviewing everyone involved.

In that sense, the group’s efforts don’t save officers time, Ernster said, though they may alert law enforcement to suspects who may otherwise go undetected.

Still, he said his department would rather see investigations left to trained professionals.

So far, the group has alerted St. Paul police to two suspects. One resulted in the charges filed against Ojetokun in November.

Ojetokun has yet to enter a plea. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said the case took him and his staff by surprise.

“Our staff had very strong feelings about some of the public-safety issues and the identification issues and just the fairness issues this brings up for someone who might be accused of a crime,” he said.

The prosecutor who signed the complaint was among those with the strongest concerns, Choi said. But when she saw the evidence, she felt compelled to act despite the case’s route to her desk.

“We wouldn’t have charged the case if we thought there were probable-cause issues,” Choi said. “At the end of the day, I guess we’ll just keep handling these on a case-by-case basis.”

Both Dakota and Hennepin counties developed policies to respond to the group’s work.

Dakota County’s mandates that citizens contact law enforcement before meeting with a potential suspect and that law enforcement be present when it happens, for example.

Despite the risks, more effort aimed at curbing sexual exploitation of minors could help, acknowledged Anoka County sheriff’s Lt. Dan Douglas.

“We all want predators and pedophiles to be brought to light. … We just have to make sure whether it’s us or a private party doing it, public safety is paramount and rules and laws are adhered to.”

‘LEAVE OUR CHILDREN ALONE’

Harwell says more law enforcement agencies are starting to work with them.

His group is willing to shift practices to accommodate their demands, he said, such as ensuring law enforcement’s presence at stings.

It recently worked with Hennepin County to stage a sting, but the suspect stopped communicating with the group’s decoy and deputies ended up arresting him at home instead, Harwell said.

If there’s one thing Harwell and Choi agree on, it’s that the problem of sexual exploitation of minors is pervasive.

Demand is so high, Choi said, that an undercover agent posing as a minor online easily racks up 150 responses over an eight-hour period.

“It’s discouraging, disappointing and sad that there are men in our community that want to buy that, and we’re talking about kids who are 15 years old or younger,” Choi said.

If any of them end up meeting Harwell instead of a minor, then it will all have been worth it, Harwell said.

And he has a message for those thinking about breaking the law.

“We are on every app, and we will expose you,” Harwell said. “Leave our children alone.”

On Friday, one day before his third child was born, Ralph Latrez Bell was found dead in a wooded area of Roseville, a little more than a mile from where police found his car on the late December day that he disappeared.

Roseville police have not released details about his death or confirmed that the body found in the vacant lot is that of the missing Stillwater man, but on Sunday his mother, Corhea Taylor, said that police had told her Bell had been stabbed several times in the chest.

More than anything, Taylor said, her son will be remembered as a “good man” who worked hard to support his young family and would do anything to help members of his large extended family.

On Friday, a person looking for shed deer antlers near some trees on a lot northeast of Dale Street and Roselawn Avenue alerted police to a body. Roseville police and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension have not yet confirmed that the body is Bell’s.

After he disappeared, family told police that Bell, 24, left his apartment in the 1600 block of Greeley Street about 10 p.m. Dec. 20 after having an argument with his fiancee.

The blue Chevrolet Impala he was believed to be driving was found an hour later with the engine idling in the 800 block of Cope Avenue West in Roseville, just over a mile north of where his body was found. Witnesses told police that they saw the car speed to the end of the dead-end street and stop, and a man got out and ran off.

Bell was father to two girls, 3, and 5, and a son who was born Saturday. His fiancee, Kaila Holmes, named the baby Ralph Latrez Bell Jr. and posted the following message to Bell on social media:

“Your son is here and not surprised looks just like our first 2 babies,” she posted to Bell just after the delivery at 1:09 a.m. “I love you so much and wish you were here to see your first son be born. … I love you.”

Holmes asked friends not to stop looking for answers in Bell’s death.

“He deserves justice,” she said.

Bell’s mother said that Bell dropped out of high school when Holmes became pregnant so he could support the new baby.

“He was a hard-working young man,” Taylor said, noting that Bell worked at a welding company in Stillwater. “He took care of his family. That was the most important thing to him. He loved his family, loved his kids.”

Every day, after working all day, he would come home and help with the children, cook dinner and do other tasks to give Kaila, who had been home with them all day, a small break, Taylor said.

“That was his daily thing,” she said. “Even after he worked all day.”

Bell was one of four children, his mother said. He moved to Richfield from Mississippi with his family when he was 11, attended school in Richfield and St. Paul and then moved to Stillwater when he met Kaila, his mother said.

Bell liked to play basketball and was a talented artist who could draw anything he saw, his mother said. He was also a deft handyman and spent time on the weekends putting motors on bicycles and then selling them for extra cash, she said.

Her son will also be remembered as a respectful young man who was always first to step forward to help when a family member needed it. Whether it was loaning someone money for food or helping someone fix a flat tire, he would be the first to offer his help, Taylor said. He had a large extended family, with 24 siblings, she said.

“Whatever the situation was, if he could help them out, he did,” she said.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Roseville Police Department at 651-767-0640.

The Stillwater man whose body was found Friday in Roseville after a three-month search killed himself, the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office has determined.

The case is under investigation and toxicology results are pending, but Ralph Latrez Bell’s mother said Monday that she was told that her son died of stab wounds to his chest. The preliminary manner of death was listed as suicide.

“It’s not the outcome we had hoped for,” said Corhea Taylor, of St. Paul. “But we can now finally rest.”

Taylor said she does not believe her son stabbed himself “multiple times … in the chest with a knife,” which she said is what she was told by police.

“No, I do not. No, I do not,” she said. “I do not think he did that. There is no way someone would stab themselves multiple times like that.”

Taylor said she would not speculate publicly as to what she thinks happened to her son, but she said: “I know it wasn’t suicide.”

Officers told Taylor that no blood was found in her son’s car, she said.

Roseville police officers recovered a knife near where Bell’s body was found Friday in a vacant lot near Dale Street and Roselawn Avenue. They have submitted it to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for testing, said Erika Scheider, a spokeswoman for the department.

Scheider said the autopsy indicated Bell died from a “sharp-force injury.”

Self-stabbing is an uncommon method of suicide and attempt of suicide, but it does happen, Scheider said. “It is a more rare one,” she said. “As far as suicides go, that’s not a common one we see.”

Police say Bell, 24, left his apartment in the 1600 block of Greeley Street in Stillwater after an argument with his fiancee around 10 p.m. Dec. 20. The blue Chevrolet Impala he was believed to have been driving was found an hour later with the engine idling in the 800 block of West Cope Avenue in Roseville. Witnesses told police that they saw the car speed to the end of the dead-end street and stop and that a man got out and ran off.

Roseville police are trying to piece together what happened between the time he left his apartment in Stillwater and ended up in the woods, Scheider said.

“He was found over a mile away from where he left his car,” she said. “We’re just hoping that somebody will call in and fill in some of these gaps. We understand that there are a lot of questions, and we’re trying our best to answer those. Hopefully, we’ll have more definitive answers for the family as the investigation continues.”

Anyone with information about Bell’s death is asked to call 651-792-7008 or go to www.cityofroseville.com/3194/Crime-Tips.

Bell, who attended Harding High School in St. Paul, worked at Metal-Tronics in Little Canada. He and his fiancee have three children; his son, Ralph Latrez Bell Jr., was born at 1 a.m. Saturday.

Family and friends of Bell’s — and people he never knew — spent countless hours handing out fliers and searching locations in Stillwater and Roseville and points in between during the time he was missing, Taylor said.

“I would really like to send my appreciation to all of them who came out for the searches,” Taylor said. “They donated food and water. They sent up prayers. They shared posters and put fliers. There are a lot of people to thank.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.

SUICIDE PREVENTION HOTLINE

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) will route people to the nearest crisis center. Information is also available at save.org.

MONTROSE, Iowa — Authorities say a 15-year-old girl accidentally shot and killed herself at a gun club in Iowa.

Lee County sheriff’s officials say deputies and medics were called around 10:40 a.m. Sunday to the Tri-State Gun Club outside Montrose, a community about 80 miles south of Iowa City.

The emergency crews found Haley McManus suffering from a gunshot wound. The girl later died at a hospital.

Sheriff Stacy Weber said Monday that Haley was accompanied by her father and that both were target shooting.

Weber’s office says the incident is being treated as an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound. No crime or negligence is suspected.

The teen lived in nearby Fort Madison. Autopsy results are pending.

A phone number listed for the gun club rang unanswered Monday.

The attempted private sale of an iPhone in St. Paul’s Hamline-Midway area Saturday night resulted in a man and woman being shot and wounded and a 19-year-old man being arrested, police said.

Police are looking for a second suspect in the case.

And on Sunday afternoon, an unrelated instance of gunshots was reported at the same intersection — Wheeler Street and Blair Avenue — and a bullet went into a home, though no one was injured.

Neighbors are concerned and are meeting Thursday to discuss the incidents.

TWO INJURED SATURDAY NIGHT

In the iPhone incident, officers responded at 9 p.m. Saturday after a report of shots fired. They found a 35-year-old man with a gunshot wound to his arm and a 39-year-old woman who had been shot twice in the leg, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.

Paramedics took the man and woman to St. Paul’s Regions Hospital; their injuries were not life-threatening. The pair told police they were selling an iPhone 10 on Facebook Marketplace. They arranged to meet a buyer at Blair and Wheeler and two males showed up.

One of the iPhone sellers was describing the phone when he heard a click, looked up and saw the two males pointing handguns at him, Ernster said. One said, “Give me everything you got,” and the man handed over the iPhone and his wallet, according to police.

As the man and woman walked toward their vehicle, they heard gunshots. The man immediately felt pain and the woman dived into the car. She didn’t realize she had been shot, Ernster said.

The two suspects ran away.

Police arrested Maurice Darshae Walker, 19, in Fridley at about 1 a.m. Monday, according to a Ramsey County jail booking report. He has not been charged.

The second suspect had not been found as of Monday afternoon and the investigation is ongoing, Ernster said.

SUNDAY INCIDENT RATTLES NEIGHBORS

On Sunday at 2 p.m., also at Wheeler Street and Blair Avenue, two groups got into a dispute and shot at each other several times, St. Paul Police Senior Cmdr. Steve Anderson wrote to Mary Kay Bailey, who had emailed him on behalf of neighbors.

A resident reported hearing glass breaking and then discovered a broken porch window and a bullet lodged in an interior wall, Ernster said.

Other callers described a male near a gray or blue vehicle on Wheeler shooting south toward a tan vehicle near Blair. The male got in the vehicle and fled east on Van Buren Avenue, while the driver of the tan vehicle headed east on Blair and out of the area.

Witnesses told police that at least six young men, who appeared to be 16 to 21 years old, were running through yards and jumping fences. It’s “unknown if they were victims, suspects or innocent people trying to flee the area for their safety,” Ernster said.

“You can imagine that as residents, parents, and grandparents, we’re all quite concerned about these incidents,” Bailey wrote to Anderson.

Police are interviewing witnesses and following up on leads, Anderson responded to Bailey on Monday morning.

The police department “immediately addressed” the shootings, Anderson wrote, saying they “saturated the area and surrounding neighborhoods and increased our patrol visibility and continue to do so.”

Police also are looking into the cases “to better assess what our next steps are in response to deterring this moving forward,” he continued.

The community meeting is set for 7 p.m. Thursday at Work It co-working space, 635 N. Fairview Ave. Police commanders and City Council Member Mitra Jalali Nelson have said they will be there.

DEERWOOD, Minn. —The second driver in a two-vehicle head-on crash last week on Highway 6 near Black Lake Road, just north of Deerwood in central Minnesota, has died.

Timothy D. Kruse, 54, Crosby, died Thursday at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. The other driver, Barbara Jo Blood, 70, Crosby, died the day of the crash, which was reported at 7:09 a.m. Wednesday.

RELATED: 3 days before husband’s funeral, central Minnesota woman dies in crash

The Minnesota State Patrol reported Kruse was driving a Chevrolet Malibu west on Highway 6 and Blood was driving a Chrysler 300 east on Highway 6. Blood’s Chrysler crossed over the centerline and struck Kruse’s Chevrolet head on, the state patrol reported. Kruse was transported to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis, where he was in critical condition when he arrived. He died the next day.

Deerwood is about 18 miles northeast of Brainerd.

The state patrol reported both drivers were not wearing their seat belts.

Police started investigating after people from across the country started calling in with tips.

A St. Paul man was posting videos on pornographic and “pedophile” web sites that showed him discussing sexual conduct with two six-year-old relatives, the tipsters told officers, according to authorities.

On Monday, Sean Windingland was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct involving the minors, according to the criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court.

The 29-year-old was interviewed by investigators last week and admitted to both engaging in sexual conduct with the children and posting videos discussing his interactions with them online, the complaint said.

He also allegedly admitted to sharing naked images of the girls with “pedophiles” on the Internet.

He defended his behavior, telling officers he didn’t view it as wrong because the 6-year-olds consented to it, charges say.

He added that he recently started worrying about the impact the conduct could have on the girls’ future relationships, according to the complaint.

Windingland, who has no criminal history in Minnesota, was scheduled to make his first appearance on the charges Monday afternoon.

No attorney was listed for him in court records.

Most of the alleged conduct took place between January and March at Windingland’s parents St. Paul home, charges say.

Ramsey County authorities seized more than 64 pounds of methamphetamine, three pounds of heroin, two loaded guns, and a “large sum” of cash this weekend when they searched a downtown Minneapolis home, officials said.

United States Attorney Erica H. MacDonald today announced Monday that Gonzalo Jiminez-Paz, Jr., 22, and Rey David Luna-Santillanes, 22, had been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. The two men were arrested Monday and appeared before Magistrate Judge Tony Leung in U.S. District Court in Saint Paul.

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the St. Paul Police Department, the Ramsey County VCET, the DEA, and the Minnesota State Patrol.

According to a criminal complaint, on March 23, 2019, law enforcement officers with the Ramsey
County Violent Crime Enforcement Team (VCET) searched the men’s downtown Minneapolis residence.

During the search, officers found two suitcases filled with the methamphetamine, heroin inside a shoe box, a bag with unidentified blue bills and two loaded handguns and a large amount of cash stashed in a kitchen cupboard.

Cristy Vandeberg was on her way to work early Tuesday morning when she saw flames coming out a house just a few blocks away from her house in Woodbury.

Vandeberg, a project superintendent for Weiss Builders in Minneapolis, stopped her Jeep and ran toward the house in the 300 block of Meadow Lane. Josh Anderson, who lives across the street, was already on the scene. It was just after 6 a.m.

“The flames were coming out of the bedroom window,” she said. “I ran to the opposite side and started beating the door in. He was putting a boot to the door. … I grabbed a chunk of a railroad tie, and I busted out the window next to the door. We started hollering in and listening for voices.”

No one responded.

Eddie Woodson, 65, was found dead in the house. No one else was in the house; his dog was in the garage.

Anderson said his wife, Randi, was awakened around 6 a.m. by their dogs barking. When Anderson checked the house’s security cameras, he said he saw a flash across the street.

“In six minutes, it went from a flash to 30-foot-high flames,” he said.

Anderson told his wife to call 911 and ran across the street.

He said he first ran to a side door and tried to kick it in, but couldn’t. He managed to kick open the front door and tried to crawl inside, but heavy smoke “came like a punch in the face,” he said.

Vandeberg said she had to persuade Anderson to stay safe. “I said, ‘Dude, you can’t go in,'” she said. “‘With the amount of smoke coming out of the window, you’re not going to make it out. The firemen are coming. They’re coming.'”

Vandeberg, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in Woodbury last fall, said she and Anderson did what any neighbors would do.

“We’re just neighbors in our community,” Vandeberg said. “I would just honestly hope that if someone saw my house on fire, they would stop … and that my neighbors would do everything they could to save us.”

Forum News Service contributed to this report.

A 22-year-old man remained in critical condition on Tuesday after he was injured when a car smashed into a bus shelter in St. Paul this weekend.

Police are investigating whether Esteban Martin, of St. Paul, was struck by the car or by flying debris on Saturday, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman.

A woman in the Metro Transit bus shelter in the Dayton’s Bluff area reported she heard glass shattering and was suddenly knocked down. She called 911. Paramedics also took her to Regions Hospital.

Police responded to Third and Earl streets at 4:43 a.m. Saturday. The driver, Darius Antwan Smith, and a passenger reported a tire had popped, which caused him to lose control of the Chevrolet Cruze, Ernster said.

Officers gave Smith a preliminary breath test, which indicated he had been drinking, and police arrested him on suspicion of criminal vehicle operation, according to Ernster. Police also obtained a search warrant to draw Smith’s blood for testing and the results are pending.

Smith, 38, of Minneapolis, was booked into the Ramsey County jail and released Monday. Police said their investigation is continuing.

Police found Martin unconscious on the ground near the heavily damaged bus shelter. He sustained a life-threatening head injury, Ernster said.

The 32-year-old woman who was knocked over in the bus shelter had a possible ankle injury and minor cuts from the glass. She was treated and released from the hospital.

Smith also had a cut to his hand from breaking glass and paramedics treated him at the scene, Ernster said.

Smith could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — One of three Twin Cities residents accused of operating an organized retail theft ring at Walmart stores in six states will spend three years on probation.

The trio took nearly $47,000 in merchandise from the Eau Claire Walmart store on two occasions in fall 2017, police said. They are responsible for more than $360,000 in losses from several Walmart stores, police said.

Tashanda J. Boclair, 32, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty recently in Eau Claire County Court to a felony count of retail theft. Judge Sarah Harless fined Boclair $6,730 and ordered her to pay $39,843 in restitution along with her two co-defendants.

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Boclair must also complete any programming, counseling or treatment recommended by her probation agent.

Co-defendants Lasonya D. Miles, 31, of Minneapolis; and Ezekiel O. Brown, 19, of Maplewood, were previously sentenced.

According to the criminal complaint:

Eau Claire police were contacted by officials at the 3915 Gateway Drive Walmart shortly after 2 a.m. Oct. 6, 2017, regarding a large theft involving an organized group.

Walmart surveillance video showed a systematic approach that led to the theft of 56 new cellphones from a locked display case valued at more than $40,000.

The video shows three people entering the store and going directly to the electronics department. They watched for employees while forcing the display case open.

One person, later identified as Brown, pushed a shopping cart with a large plastic storage container up against the display case.

Brown and the other two people, later identified as Miles and Boclair, grabbed the phones and placed them in the plastic container.

The trio covered the container and pushed the merchandise out of the store without being stopped by employees.

Walmart employees said the same three people stole $6,700 worth of tablet computers on Sept. 27, 2017, using a similar process.

While investigating the two Eau Claire cases, police learned that Walmart corporate investigators had been tracking Boclair, Brown and Miles.

Through the installation of a trap and trace device and pen register, law enforcement officers obtained conversations between Miles, Brown, Boclair and a fourth person regarding coordinated efforts to plan these thefts across the region.

Pen registers are surveillance devices that capture the phone numbers dialed on outgoing telephone calls. Trap and trace devices capture the numbers identifying incoming calls.