PINE CITY, Minn. — A Willow River man allegedly admitted to police that he intentionally drove his SUV into the Kettle River in east-central Minnesota, believing he could make it across safely, before the vehicle began to sink with a passenger trapped inside.
Preston Paul Prokasky, 43, also admitted to using methamphetamine prior to the Monday incident that killed 47-year-old Eugene Oestreich, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday.
Preston Paul Prokasky
Prokasky was arraigned in Pine County District Court in Pine City on two felony counts of criminal vehicular operation in connection with Oestreich’s death. Judge Krista Martin set bail at $250,000.
According to the complaint:
Pine County deputies were dispatched to the area of 80124 River Run Road in Willow River at 3:48 p.m. on a report of a vehicle having gone into the Kettle River. When the first deputy arrived, no vehicle was visible, but two men with wet clothing were found along the shore.
Prokasky told the deputy he was driving his 2004 Ford Escape with Oestreich in the front seat and another passenger, 48-year-old Gerald Darkow, in the back, when he decided to drive across the river. He showed the officer the location where he drove in.
“Prokasky said he did not know the river was so deep and (thought) they could make it across,” the complaint states. “When they started to sink he climbed out the driver’s side window. Darkow climbed out the window after him. Mr. Oestreich did not make it out of the car.”
Darkow told deputies they had been at Prokasky’s residence immediately prior to the incident. Darkow said Prokasky told them he was going to drive across the river and that he ignored his request to be let out of the vehicle. After they started to float, Prokasky and Darkow were able to escape, but never saw Oestreich again.
An investigator followed up with Prokasky, who stated they had been in the Rutledge area prior to the incident and that it was his idea to drive across the river. He said they were on the shore for approximately 20 to 30 minutes before he drove into the water. He said Oestreich couldn’t swim and rolled up his window as they went in.
The investigator asked Prokasky what they had been doing prior to the incident, but he would not provide a detailed answer, saying they had been “on a wild goose chase.” Prokasky said Oestreich was a friend who had been living with him up until the previous night, when he kicked him out.
Prokasky further admitting using meth with his two friends earlier in the day. A blood sample was taken, pursuant to a search warrant, and sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for analysis.
The Ford Escape was eventually located in approximately 14 feet of water, with Oestreich’s body still inside.
The two vehicular homicide charges allege Prokasky caused Oestreich’s death by operating a vehicle in a “grossly negligent manner” and while under the influence of a Schedule I or II controlled substance.
Prokasky has multiple prior convictions related to driving while intoxicated, among other traffic offenses.
In January, a 61-year-old Eagan woman reported to police that she wired $85,400 over six months to a man she met on dating website and said he was a U.S. Army captain stationed in Afghanistan and needed money for clothes and necessities.
A month later, a 60-year-old Eagan resident fell to a similar scam after she wired a man she met on a dating website $126,700. He said he needed the money to sell his homes in California and New York so he could move from Europe and be with her in Eagan.
The cases are among 26 reports Eagan police say they have taken this year from residents who’ve been victims to scams through telephone calls, emails and from websites, resulting in a total loss of more than $440,000.
On Wednesday, police released information about the cases — saying there has been both a rise in the number of them in the city and the amount of money swindled — as a way to educate residents with the hope of combating the problem.
“Scams succeed because they look like the real thing and catch people off guard when they’re not expecting it,” said Eagan police spokesman officer Aaron Machtemes. “The best way to prevent a scam is to be alert to the fact that scams exist, and then learn what warning signs look like.”
The scams this year vary from supposed utility companies requesting payment, to U.S. marshals claiming the victim’s identity is being used to smuggle drugs from Mexico.
In most of the cases, the scammers have persuaded the victims to send payments in non-traditional methods such as gift cards or wire transfers, Machtemes said.
But in one instance last month, a 79-year-old man mailed $4,908 cash in a padded envelope to Tampa, Fla., after being told his grandson was in jail.
“Often, sadly, it’s vulnerable adults that fall victim to these sorts of things,” Machtemes said. “People literally give everything they can because they feel like a loved one is in need and they need the money.”
The victims this year range in age — from 86- to 21-years-old — and have varying degrees of education, socio-economic status and life experience, Machtemes said.
“Everyone is susceptible to being scammed,” he said.
Most scams work to incite panic and require a person to take immediate action, he said.
Like when a caller in February threatened deportation to a 33-year-old woman unless she bought Google gift cards and sent him the information on the back of them. She did, and was out about $1,500.
Eagan police investigate every scam report, but mostly come to dead ends because typically the scammers are overseas and the money is hard to track, he said.
“These victims are losing a lifetime in savings and often do not have much recourse to get it back,” he said. “The main strategy to combat this is through prevention. Education about scams could prevent someone from becoming financially and emotionally ruined.”
Machtemes said the public should follow tips recommended by the Federal Trade Commission. They include hanging up on robocalls; talking to a family member or friend before giving up money or personal information; not paying upfront for a promise; and being skeptical about free trial offers.
That’s because the police department is at its peak staffing when new officers hit the streets at the start of each year, but the numbers decrease throughout the year as officers retire. Plus, there are officers out on military, medical or other leave.
The City Council is looking into whether the police department could start the year with more officers on board, knowing the ranks will drop throughout the year as other officers depart, Council President Amy Brendmoen said Wednesday.
“It’s less about the number of the authorized strength as it is getting closer to a higher, steady number across the year, and especially in the times when we historically know the force is the busiest,” she said. “Because the way they’re staffing right now, they have the least cops in August, which is not good.”
The police department spent $1.9 million in overtime last year, partly because it was operating below its authorized strength. The council is seeing whether the department could accomplish a new staffing plan with funds it would have used for overtime, according to Brendmoen.
Could the police department start the year with more than 630 officers?
“We have retirees and we have people that leave for different reasons, so going above so that we plateau out at the place where we want to be is certainly a possibility,” Mayor Melvin Carter said Wednesday.
Axtell told City Council members during Wednesday’s budget discussion, “I understand that you have difficult decisions to make regarding the 2020 budget. … I also know that cutting police officers is absolutely not in the best interest of the city of St. Paul.”
While community members don’t usually attend budget meetings, the council chambers were full of people Wednesday. Many there want to see fewer officers.
A woman, who declined to be identified, expresses her fear of the police after an officer shot a man. At left is Anika Bowie, City Council Ward 1 candidate. (Jean Pieri / Pioneer Press)
“We showed up today to support a budget that moves St. Paul in a new direction,” said Laura Jones, a member of Root and Restore St. Paul and a Hamline-Midway resident. “In order to promote safety, we need to invest in community-based programs and interventions that heal harm and promote wellness. We know that our city, like our nation, has over-relied on policing and it’s not delivering the safety we want and it harms communities.”
Carl Roith, on the other hand, believes there should be more officers and he talked to Carter about it in the hallway afterward.
“I think they need to be beefed up with all the crime we have,” said Roith, who lives in Frogtown. “We can’t keep going on like this with all these shootings. Something’s got to be done or it’s just going to get worse and worse.”
CHIEF: ‘LIMITED NUMBER OF OFFICERS’
Axtell told the council that St. Paul officers are busier than ever. Calls for service from community members are up, and so are 911 calls. There have been 118 people shot in St. Paul this year, 18 of whom have died.
“We have a limited number of officers available to work the streets at any given time,” Axtell said. “Just like any other … city department, officers retire, they go on vacation, they get sick, they’re deployed to the military, they have children. … They’re all normal life events, but they also create staffing challenges.”
Although the department’s authorized strength is 635 officers this year, the high point was in January when there were 626 officers. Because last year’s budget was approved in December, Axtell said he wasn’t able to add officers to the once-a-year academy, which began in fall 2018.
The department currently has 608 officers on the payroll, with 570 available to work the streets because of the life events that Axtell detailed.
Amy Brendmoen
“It doesn’t really sound like a sworn strength problem because, if we were up to our full sworn strength out on the streets, that would be an additional 65 police officers,” Brendmoen said. “It’s more of a staffing or a management or a HR problem. … Our focus should be on adequate staffing and making sure that we have our minimums covered, so that people don’t have to work overtime.”
Axtell responded that it’s not a management problem, but “a resource issue we have to address.”
“If we were able at some point to commit to making sure that we have an average of 630 or 635 officers … rather than the 570 I just discussed, that would truly make sure that we were able to respond to our 911 calls and crime victims in our city in a timely and respectful manner,” Axtell said.
FIRE DEPARTMENT ADDRESSING SAME ISSUE
The St. Paul Fire Department is embarking on a pilot program to address the same issue.
The department has identified the need to hire 3 to 5 percent above its authorized strength — which takes into account retirements and other leaves — so it will have the right number of firefighters when the new class graduates from the next academy, said Deputy Fire Chief Roy Mokosso.
Brendmoen said the City Council will be digging into police department staffing and their budget over the next week to see if a similar staffing model could work for them.
“I think there’s a way that we can get our authorized strength where it’s supposed to be and keep the budget where it is,” she said after the council meeting.
Carter’s proposed 2020 budget, which seeks a 4.85 percent tax increase, includes about $4 million in spending reductions that will affect every city department.
The budget includes a $4.5 million increase for the police department, which is primarily for salary increases to officers the city agreed to last year.
The council will set the levy limit on Sept. 25 and adopt next year’s budget on Dec. 11.
A man leaving Bible study in St. Paul with his father and young daughter was shot on Wednesday night. And police who followed a blood trail found the man mortally wounded with his Bible next to him.
The man’s father called 911 at 8:40 p.m. to report someone opened fire as they left St. Albans Church of God in Christ in the Summit-University neighborhood, said Steve Linders, a St Paul police spokesman.
“Why anyone would shoot into a crowd in a neighborhood while people are leaving church is incomprehensible,” Linders said. “At this point, investigators do not believe this was a random shooting, but until we find the person or people responsible we won’t know for sure.”
The man’s killing was the sixth fatal shooting in St. Paul this month and the 20th homicide of the year.
About an hour later, police received reports of shots fired and they found blood in St. Paul’s North End. Officers did not immediately locate an injured person.
KILLED OUTSIDE CHURCH
Officers who responded to the fatal shooting found a group of people “who were obviously quite shaken up” in the area of Aurora Avenue and St. Albans Street, a block south of University Avenue, Linders said.
The man who died was leaving church with a group of people when someone fired a gun at them. His father, who has a permit to carry, drew a handgun and returned fire, according to police.
After the man was hit, he ran from the area. Police discovered him nearby, with a bullet wound to the abdomen.
Officers began CPR and paramedics responded, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
No one was arrested Wednesday night. Police asked anyone with information to call them at 651-266-5650.
GUNSHOTS NEAR SITE OF RECENT HOMICIDE
Also on Wednesday, at about 9:40 p.m., police received a report of shots fired at Rice Street and Winnipeg Avenue, outside the Winnipeg Grocery and Deli.
Multiple callers reported anywhere between nine and 15 shots fired, according to emergency radio traffic.
Officers discovered evidence of a shooting and blood, but didn’t find an injured person on Wednesday night. Police have not been able to confirm whether someone was shot, Linders said.
On Sept. 9, 18-year-old Raumez Ross was fatally shot in the same area. It’s unclear whether either of Wednesday’s shootings were related to each other or Ross’ homicide, police said.
“We are working hard to get in front of these shootings, to address the issues that lead to the shootings, … but that takes time and until we’re able to make headway we’re going to continue to allocate as many resources as possible towards addressing this,” Linders said.
The owner of an Inver Grove Heights massage business pleaded guilty Tuesday to two counts of second-degree prostitution.
Xueyan Wang, 40, was accused of operating a brothel out of Herb Spa, a therapeutic massage business she owned in the Arbor Pointe strip mall. Wang was arrested in July after police raided the business.
Xueyan Wang
Inver Grove Heights police began investigating Herb Spa in March after they discovered several reviews of the business on a website where patrons exchange information about massage studios where paid sex acts are performed, according to charges filed in July.
Investigators surveilled the storefront, which they noted had minimal signage and was always locked — customers were required to ring a doorbell to be let in, the charges said. Men who were interviewed by police after they were seen exiting Herb Spa told investigators they had paid for sex there.
When police executed a search warrant, they found a notepad listing several different sex acts with corresponding prices and about $50,000 in cash, according to the criminal complaint against Wang. Rather than traditional massage tables in the rooms, officers found beds on wooden crates.
A review of Wang’s bank account showed that she issued checks to pay for advertising on a website (formerly Backpage.com) and wired money to an account in China from her personal checking account.
Wang remains in custody at the Dakota County jail. She is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 7 in Dakota County District Court.
After two armed men confronted a man in his St. Paul garage and pistol-whipped him, his 9-year-old daughter pleaded with them to not shoot her father, police said Thursday.
One of the suspects grabbed the girl’s head, and put his hand over her mouth and a gun to her head Wednesday morning, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, St. Paul police spokesman.
The suspects ended up running away from the residence in the West Seventh Street area.
Police found the 28-year-old covered in blood with a laceration to his forehead when they responded to View Street and Jefferson Avenue, near Palace Park, shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday.
The man told police the suspects were trying to take his children. Police reports didn’t indicate the suspects made any demands and it’s unclear what their motives were, according to Ernster.
HEADING TO SCHOOL, THEN VIOLENCE
The children had just got in the car because their father was taking them to school. He opened the garage door and noticed a garbage can was knocked down, blocking his way out.
He got out to move the can and was suddenly attacked from behind by a man who hit him in the head with a handgun and pointed the gun at him, according to police.
The man pleaded with the suspects and told them his children were in the car. His daughter exited the car when she realized he was being assaulted and told them not to shoot her dad.
After the suspect grabbed the girl and released her, she started running out of the garage, but realized her 4-year-old brother was still in the car and she was going to get him, Ernster said.
The suspects fled and police did not find them.
Both were described as black men, about 6 feet tall, with skinny builds. One appeared to be 25 to 30-years-old, and was wearing a black and white baseball cap, black and white shoes, black sweatpants with white stripes on both sides and a dark blue sweater. The other man was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt covering his face, black pants with a white logo on the left thigh and black shoes that had a white lower half.
Police said he had just departed St. Albans Church of God in Christ at Aurora Avenue and St. Albans Street with a group of people, including his father and daughter, when someone opened fire.
Carter’s father, who has a permit to carry, fired back, police said.
Carter’s killing was the sixth fatal shooting in St. Paul this month and the 20th homicide of the year.
FAMILY REELING AFTER SHOOTING
Frances Goodlow lives in the area and Carter’s body was found in her backyard. His Bible was next to him.
Goodlow heard the anguished cries of Carter’s daughter and said she’s grateful that the girl wasn’t wounded.
“I’m thinking they didn’t shoot her because (Carter’s) father responded so quickly, shooting at them, that they got away,” said David Goodlow, Frances’ wife. He heard the shots, but neither he nor Frances saw who was responsible.
Frances and David Goodlow’s motion detector went off behind their house when RayVell Carter ran into their back yard after being shot after leaving Bible study at St. Albans Church of God in Christ, across the street on the right, in St. Paul Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019. (Jean Pieri / Pioneer Press)
Da’Ray Sherow, a cousin of Carter’s, said he’s shocked, saddened and angry.
“There’s certain rules you thought that people had or certain places people respect,” Sherow said. “… It kind of goes to show that … bad things can happen at any time, no matter what you’re doing.
“For him to be coming out of his Bible study, it’s going to take some time to wrap my head around that one, why somebody would do that to him in front of his daughter of all things,” Sherow continued.
Police said the homicide did not appear random. The investigation continues and no one had been arrested as of Thursday afternoon.
HIS FAMILY’S CHURCH
Carter’s uncle, Rev. William Land Sr., is pastor at the church where Carter and his family were attending Bible study. It’s held each Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Carter’s father called 911 about 8:40 p.m. to report the shooting.
Relatives say Carter leaves behind three children.
“He was an awesome father and, more than anything these last few years, his life was filled with God,” said Shirley Land, the pastor’s wife and Carter’s aunt. “That was his life — church and family.”
Rita Galvan said her cousin was the kind of person who was always smiling.
“That’s one thing I’ll always remember is his electrifying smile,” she said. “He could light up a room.”
A former inventory specialist with the Washington County Public Works Department has been charged with theft and misconduct by a public officer/employee. He is accused of stealing more than $6,000 in automotive parts and tools from the county and using them for personal gain.
Richard J. Erickson, 50, of Dresser, Wis., will appear next month in Washington County District Court in Stillwater on the charges.
Richard J. Erickson (Courtesy of Washington County Jail)
Erickson was discovered in April “to have been purchasing automotive parts and tools using Washington County charge accounts and taking the tools and parts for his personal use,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Washington County.
A supervisor discovered Erickson had ordered spark plugs and plug wires for a Subaru Forester. “The individual who found the order knew that Washington County only had two Subaru vehicles and they were new Outbacks,” the complaint states.
Erickson “was the lone parts specialist who would purchase parts and tools for the Washington County motorized vehicles,” the complaint states. “It was reported that the defendant would order parts and then not inventory them for a particular vehicle in the county’s fleet. Investigators discovered that tires had been ordered and delivered for the defendant’s vehicles at the county’s expense, as well as parts and tools that were in the possession of the defendant.”
The purchases were made over an eight-month period beginning in August 2018, the complaint states.
The parts and equipment that Erickson is accused of ordering and taking range from a $924 set of Goodyear Wrangler Trailrunner tires to a $1.87 spark-plug socket. The total cost: $6,397.
On April 30, law enforcement officers executed search warrants on Erickson’s house and the public works facility at 11660 Myeron Road North “where some of the illegally obtained items were secured,” the complaint states. “Vehicles were secured that had the illegal parts on them and were subsequently stripped of those parts.”
Erickson was arrested and placed on paid administrative leave on April 30. His last day of employment for Washington County was June 21, said Don Theisen, public works director.
STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Attorneys have reached a plea deal for a former Wisconsin fugitive who hid out in a makeshift bunker for more than three years.
Forty-four-year-old Jeremiah Button was discovered in August living in a bunker powered by solar panels and a pedal generator. Button disappeared in February 2016 just weeks before he was scheduled to stand trial on child sexual assault and child pornography charges.
This undated photo provided by the Portage County Sheriff’s Department shows Jeremiah Button. (Portage County Sheriff’s Department/The Post-Crescent via AP)
The Stevens Point Journal reports a judge scheduled a plea hearing for Button for Friday.
Portage County District Attorney Louis Molepske earlier amended the charges from the original four to 15. A jury trial is scheduled next week.
Button’s public defender, Jessica Phelps, did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday. But court records state Phelps withdrew her objection to the final agreement.
ELBOW LAKE, Minn. — Creditors of the former Ashby Farmers Cooperative Elevator in western Minnesota are suing taxidermists for a half-million dollars, claiming they should have realized former elevator manager Jerry Hennessey was improperly paying for mounting trophies using co-op checks.
Lawyer Erik Ahlgren, of Fergus Falls, who serves as the assignee for the benefit of creditors, on Monday filed a lawsuit in Grant County District Court in Elbow Lake asking that taxidermist Marvin Gaston, his wife, Betty Gaston, and their company, Taxidermy Unlimited Inc. of Burnsville, pay back $514,435.07 in unauthorized payments from the co-op.
This photo shows Jerry Hennessey in Mexico in January 2013. The photo was taken by Arizona-based hunting company, Sonora Dark Horn. (Photo courtesy of Sonora Dark Horn via Forum News Service)
The taxidermist suit adds some detail to an extraordinary grain industry fraud committed by Hennessey, 56, who is now serving an eight-year sentence at a federal prison in North Carolina.
In the lawsuit, Ahlgren says the company is entitled to “recover fraudulent transfers, damages and disgorgement” under the Minnesota Fraudulent Transfer Act, which allows a six-year look-back to 2013.
Hennessey was named manager of the Ashby co-op in 1989. Over the years, Hennessey made some $5.4 million in unauthorized payments from co-op accounts. Much of the money was spent on big-game hunting trips around the globe and taxidermy services.
Hennessey had been using Taxidermy Unlimited services since 2009. He initially paid for the services with a Cabela’s Club Visa credit card, which he, in turn, paid for with co-op funds.
Between 2013 and 2017, Hennessey wrote $416,245 in co-op checks payable personally to Marvin Gaston. The 12 checks internally were labeled as corn, soybeans or seed and were for up to $75,000 each.
In the suit, Ahlgren says the Gastons “knew or should have known that they were taking checks from an agricultural cooperative, for expenses unrelated to the business of the cooperative. Further, the Gastons accepted funds for Taxidermy Unlimited gift certificates that were donated to Safari Club International and Minnesota Safari Club International as prizes in a club drawing.”
Among the photos in court documents include Hennessey’s big game hunting display at his Dalton, Minn., home include this tiger and African animals. The photo was taken in early December 2018 by Ashley Farmers Elevevator Co-op, for use in court filings. (Forum News Service/Agweek/Photo from Grant County District Court filings.)
Also, the Gastons accepted co-op funds which Betty Gaston transferred by wire to various safari hunting guides and for shipping of “animal skins, hides and heads from Uganda, New Zealand, Spain and South Africa.”
In the lawsuit, Ahlgren also says that Betty Gaston helped Hennessey in his scheme to purchase hunting property in Kanabec County on Oct. 9, 2013. The day before, he requested Betty Gaston obtain a cashier’s check of $98,190.07 payable to a title company. She then accepted co-op money as “reimbursement,” according to the suit.
The Gastons in April made an appointment to be interviewed by Forum News Service, but then rescinded the appointment.
On Feb. 14, Hennessey pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges. Separately, on March 15, the co-op in Grant County District Court obtained a $4.9 million state judgment against Hennessey and his wife, Rebecca. In addition to his prison sentence, Hennessey was ordered to pay $5.3 million in restitution.
The co-op’s creditors previously sued some of the guide services Hennessey used on his hunts.
The St. Paul police chief will release body-camera footage next week from an officer who fatally shot a man last Sunday, the department announced.
Police Chief Todd Axtell talked to Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans on Friday. Evans told Axtell by Tuesday “the investigation will be far enough long that releasing video will not compromise its integrity, therefore he has made the decision to release the video,” said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman, on Friday.
Axtell intends to release the footage on Tuesday, after Ronald Davis’ family has an opportunity to view it.
Ronald Davis
Davis, 31, rear-ended Officer Steven Mattson when he was stopped at a stop sign at Thomas Avenue and Griggs Street on Sunday at 5:50 p.m., according to the BCA, the agency conducting the investigation.
Both men exited their vehicles and Davis brandished a knife, ignoring repeated commands to drop it, the BCA said in a statement. During the confrontation, Mattson shot Davis, of Little Canada.
Mattson’s body-worn camera captured the incident. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter asked Axtell to release the footage “as soon as reasonably possible” and the police department said on Monday they would.
Detailed information from investigations into officer-involved shootings, including video footage, has traditionally not been released in Minnesota until after the probe is concluded.
The planned release of the footage in the St. Paul case “is unusually quick,” said Dave Bicking, a board member of Communities United Against Police Brutality. “… I hope that this will give a clearer picture about what happened.”
RONALD DAVIS WAS DAD, RECENT GRAD
The day before Davis’ fatal encounter with the officer, he wrote on Facebook about recently graduating from a maintenance and facilities training course. He said he playing the UNO Flip card game with his wife Friday night.
Also early on Saturday, Davis posted,”I Don’t want to leave this earth without making amends. … Asking For Forgiveness.”
Kevin Richardson, who thought of Davis as a son, doesn’t believe he would have wanted to die.
“He just completed all his credentials and he had a lot to live for,” he said. “He was a good kid and he would have never jumped out and tried to fight the police for no reason.”
In various posts on Facebook, Davis expressed love for his wife, his children and his mother. He shared funny viral videos, and posted inspirational phrases and Bible verses.
Davis also posted about the police. He wrote at the end of July that a “police drone was just following me.”
In 2018, he wrote he was out on bail and added, “(expletive) 12,” a reference to police. Davis pleaded guilty to burglary stemming from a September 2017 break-in at a T-Mobile store in Brooklyn Center.
About a decade earlier, Davis was convicted of robbery with a firearm in Chicago, according to a St. Paul police report.
QUESTIONS FROM THOSE WHO KNEW HIM
Davis’ family is grieving and in shock. Richardson said he has too many questions and he wants to see the body-camera footage.
People have left flowers near the St. Paul intersection where Ronald Davis, who is seen in a photo with his wife, was fatally shot by an officer on Sept. 15, 2019. (Mara H. Gottfried / Pioneer Press)
Richardson, who was in a relationship with Davis’ mother, helped raise Davis from the time he was a baby until he was 8 or 9. They moved the family out of Chicago because they wanted to get them away from violence, Richardson said.
Of all the kids, Davis was the one whom Richardson said he had to worry about the least. He was a quiet, laid back kid, Richardson said.
Everyone called Davis “Fatty” — though it didn’t match his physical appearance as an adult, the nickname stuck from when he was a baby and “he had these big cheeks,” Richardson said.
Davis was busy lately with continuing his education.
On Aug. 23, Davis received a certificate from Century College for a 34-hour facilities maintenance course. He finished a 30-hour OSHA training course for general industry on Sept. 6. And, on Sept. 12, he completed a facilities and maintenance training program that started Aug. 5.
Davis posted photos to Facebook in 2018 showing he had earned his certification in operating rough terrain forklifts and was a registered apprentice roofer.
VIDEO TO BE RELEASED AS INVESTIGATION CONTINUES
Investigators stand behind multiple lines of police tape at the scene of an officer involved shooting at Thomas Avenue and Griggs Street in St. Paul on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Axtell told the City Council Wednesday he’s “heard the clarion calls” to release the footage from the shooting and he said he would when he’s “confident that the release won’t interfere with a transparent investigation.”
“That’s my promise to our community and that’s what I owe the family of the person who died, the officer and everyone who cares about the truth,” Axtell said.
While investigations are underway, Minnesota law says law enforcement agencies can release information to “promote public safety, or dispel widespread rumor or unrest,” which is what Axtell cited in August 2018 when he released body camera footage 12 days after officers fatally shot William Hughes, as the BCA investigation was underway. Tuesday’s release will be nine days after the shooting of Davis.
Bicking, of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said he thinks quick release of body-camera footage after a shooting by police should be standard practice, though he believes families should get to see it first.
And Bicking said he still disagrees with the practice of allowing officers to watch body camera footage before making a statement, which they unsuccessfully advocated against at the Legislature.
“If (police) say, ‘We can’t release it now because it would taint people’s memories in witness interviews,’ that’s really a double standard because they let the officers watch it,” Bicking said.
The BCA doesn’t take a position about whether or when other law enforcement releases video, though “the BCA advises that once video is released, the BCA cannot ensure the integrity of statements provided by witnesses who come forward after that release,” said Jill Oliveira, BCA spokeswoman.
Officer Mattson remains on paid leave, which is standard after an officer-involved shooting.
He joined the St. Paul police department last August and began patrolling in December after completing the department’s academy. He was a North St. Paul police officer from 2016 to 2018, and a Dickinson, N.D., police officer from 2012 to 2014.
Tribal elders spoke aloud the names of loved ones murdered or missing, and with tears and smiles, they made a commitment: to end the epidemic of violence against Native American women and girls.
The Minnesota Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force on Thursday met for the first time, starting a 15-month timeline to write a report guiding law enforcement and the Legislature on the systemic causes of violence against Native American women and girls.
In an emotional ceremony, tribal elders and leaders, lawmakers and state officials acknowledged that the creation of a board to study the epidemic of missing and murdered Native American women was a long time coming and the state had work to do in repairing relationships with tribal communities.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, ceremonially signed a copy of a bill establishing a task force to study the prevalence of violence against Indigenous women and girls. (Dana Ferguson / Forum News Service)
For years, survivors and advocates have asked the state to investigate the disappearances and murders and for media outlets to take them seriously. Earlier this year lawmakers unanimously approved the proposal, teeing up the task force.
“Today we start with the signing of what should have happened centuries ago,” Ojibwe elder Mary Lyons said. “Today we as Indigenous women rise. We’re not being forgotten today. We can call each of our missing and murdered women’s name out loud and we can embrace them in prayers. Today we let them know they did not fall to their deaths only to be forgotten.”
Minnesota is one of seven states to create a task force to study the prevalence of missing and murdered Native American women. And state officials on Thursday vowed to take seriously the panel’s recommendations and advance them in the Legislature rather than shelving the group’s report.
“We must tell these stories, but we must tell these stories to action,” Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, said. “Stories simply for stories sake, putting our trauma on display. If that happens without action, we have failed.”
There’s little data that tracks the prevalence of the disappearance, abduction or murder of Native American women. Breakdowns in communication and overlaps in police jurisdiction have also created problems in data collection.
But federal reports show that Native Americans disappear at twice the rate per capita of white Americans, though they make up a much smaller portion of the population. And in some areas, Native American women living on tribal lands were murdered at rates 10 times the national average, the Department of Justice found in 2008.
Task force members said tackling those discrepancies in data and identifying factors that put Native American women and girls at risk of facing trafficking, abduction or murder will be among the topics they research in coming months.
“Data is another area where our people have been erased, where the incidents of many things have been kept out of systems and we’re statistically insignificant in so many ways because genocide has been so very effective,” Patina Park, president and CEO of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, said. “We’re going to take the time and see how many women are missing, how many women’s families are still looking for them, how many women that are being exploited right now.”
The task force will continue meeting over the next year as a whole and in smaller subgroups. And it will deliver to the Legislature a report of its findings in December of 2020. More than two dozen tribal leaders, law enforcement officers, lawyers, lawmakers, advocates and others make up the panel.
Law enforcement and legal officials acknowledged that previous generations hadn’t done enough to protect Native American women and girls and they said they would work with the panel to redeem themselves.
“This is an opportunity, this is a moment in time for Minnesota to say, ‘No more. Not one more missing woman. Not one more Native woman trafficked. Not one more woman abused in the state of Minnesota,'” Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said. “This is the start of that movement.”
A man accused of a fatal shooting following a dispute at St. Paul’s Hmong Freedom Festival last year was convicted of murder Friday.
Nougai Xiong
Nougai Xiong, 27, of St. Paul, was convicted in Ramsey County District Court of two counts of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Jacky G. Vue, 19, of St. Paul. The shooting occurred July 1, 2018, at the Como Regional Park event, which thousands attended to celebrate Hmong culture, food and sports.
Xiong was also convicted of two counts of committing a crime for the benefit of a gang.
According to the criminal complaint against Xiong, he and his cousin were allegedly involved in a fight before the shooting, in which some men approached them and began striking them with umbrellas.
A gang member who was involved in the fight told police that it occurred because they believed Xiong and his cousin were members of a rival gang. The cousin, Yang Xiong of La Crosse, Wis., told police that he and Nougai Xiong weren’t part of a gang.
Yang Xiong told police that two men hit him and his cousin with umbrellas and threatened to kill them, and Nougai Xiong subsequently shot one of the men, according to the complaint.
Sentencing will take place Nov. 15.
Yang Xiong pleaded guilty to aiding an offender after the fact, and is set to be sentenced Oct. 4.
Police are looking for a man who entered Fein Violins on Saturday afternoon, pepper sprayed an employee and stole four instruments before leaving in a car.
“This is the first time in 37 years in business we’ve ever had a robbery or break in,” said Andrew Fein, owner of the shop on Grand Avenue near Fairview Avenue in St. Paul.
Video surveillance from about 1 p.m. Saturday shows a black man over 6 feet tall in a black jacket and red flannel shirt speaking with a female employee.
Fein said the man was pretending to be interested in buying a violin.
As he continued to talk, he pulled out an aerosol can and pepper sprayed the woman in the face, St. Paul police confirmed.
He then grabbed four violins, ran out the door and left in a vehicle. He did not take any cases or bows.
Fein declined to give the value of the violins.
“Let’s just say they were nice violins,” he said. One was an antique French violin from 1911 with the name “Vatelot” inside, the other three have his label “Andrew Fein” inside.
Fein said the suspect was unknown to him.
Police did not get a description of the vehicle.
To report information leading to the suspect, call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or dial 9-1-1.
When a St. Paul police sergeant called the Midway BP gas station to ask for their surveillance video, the person on the other end simply hung up the phone. That was in April, and police say they’re still waiting for the video.
St. Paul police and city inspectors have labeled the 24-hour gas station and convenience store at 1347 W. University Ave. a magnet for trouble, as well as an uncooperative partner in dealing with shootings and other crimes.
They’re now seeking to strip the business of both its gas station and tobacco license following a series of troubling incidents, including an early-morning shooting this summer that ended in the death of a customer.
Business owner Khaled Aloul of Bloomington is fighting those efforts. Aloul said he had planned a $1.6 million remodel of the gas station, and had spent $120,000 on architects and engineers to draw up preliminary plans already approved by the city.
That project is now on hold as a result of his licensing battle, and he worries he’ll have to file for bankruptcy if his gas station is shut down. He still owes nearly $1 million in mortgage loans. If he’s shuttered, the business will likely lose its grandfather rights, and no one else will be allowed to operate it as a gas station.
“I am not responsible for crimes that happen outside,” said Aloul, who is also an owner or co-owner of convenience stores on Maryland Avenue in St. Paul, in Chanhassen and in Plymouth. “What am I going to do, carry a gun and shoot people? The police, it’s their job. … Now I have to put everything on hold.”
Located at University and Hamline avenues, the gas station sits across from the Hamline Station Green Line light-rail stop and the 4-year-old Hamline Station affordable-apartment complex, and near a series of bars, single-family homes and duplexes down the street from the Midway Shopping Center and the new Allianz Field soccer stadium.
FULL LICENSE REVOCATION
On July 24, the St. Paul City Council voted 6-0 to impose a $500 penalty on the store for advertising flavored tobacco products last winter despite a recent city ordinance limiting flavored items to tobacco shops.
The store managers previously contested the proposed fine to an administrative law judge, but they failed to show up for the legal hearing, according to the city attorney’s office. The city then added $600 in administrative costs to the fine.
Ordinarily, a second license violation would garner a $1,000 fine under the city’s penalty rules. Officials with the Department of Safety and Inspections, however, requested an upward departure — a full license revocation — following back-to-back incidents.
“That decision was based on the serious nature and cumulative number of second violations,” said Suzanne Donovan, a spokeswoman for DSI.
DSI inspectors reported witnessing — or interviewing customers who had been on the receiving end of — employees selling tobacco products to minors and employees selling cigarettes as singles outside their original packaging. And, according to police, employees packaging and selling glass vial “drug kits” for $5 and $6.
More than once, store managers failed to provide inspectors with surveillance video upon request, a condition of their license.
Broken fencing discovered on the ground this summer with nails pointing upward violated license conditions requiring adequate fencing between the store and the nearby alley. Heaps of trash reported to be piled next to a dumpster for two consecutive days violated conditions requiring daily litter pick-up, according to DSI and the city attorney’s office.
Then there’s the recovered shell casings, the reports of shots fired, the parking lot parties that have drawn 20 to 30 cars at a time at 2 a.m. bar close, and a particular incident that turned fatal a few months ago.
Shortly after 4 a.m. June 18, a Tuesday morning, Dajuon Johnson exited the store and walked to the gas pumps, where police believe he was standing when a shot rang out, hitting the 22-year-old St. Paul man in the neck. Johnson was taken to Region’s Hospital, where he died several days later.
No one has been charged in his killing. Even before the shooting, St. Paul police had identified the BP as a “hotbed for criminal activity” in police reports, a sentiment echoed by some nearby residents and city officials.
The prospect of a license revocation is now before a state administrative law judge. The judge’s recommendation likely will be heard at a public hearing before the St. Paul City Council in January.
“We’re getting crazy response,” said Kate Mudge, executive director of the Hamline-Midway Coalition. “I think we’ve got over 200 people who have chimed in. That survey is open through the beginning of November.”
Midway resident Dan Buck, a board member with the Hamline-Midway Coalition, said the building is a visible eyesore and the types of sales that occur at the site draw the wrong type of customer. He’s repeatedly called the city about trash overflowing from the dumpster.
“I’ve been in my house almost 20 years now, and that BP has been a thorn in our side the whole time,” Buck said. “Some of it is smaller quality of life issues, such as litter, but you’ve got a business owner who is complicit. When you’ve got 20 people hanging out at your parking lot at 2 a.m. beating people — which is on YouTube — they’re complicit in this activity. People shouldn’t be scared to live in our neighborhood. I love the Midway.”
Among the issues raised by police, they said an employee acknowledged selling “drug kits” composed of small glass pipes and vials when questioned by an officer about the items behind the counter.
“We sell incense burners,” Aloul said. “I don’t know what they’re using them for. The employee hardly speaks English. Every tobacco store sells these things. The police officer tried to put words in his mouth and have him say ‘drug kit.’ ”
DSI officials and St. Paul police have logged a series of recent incidents, which were summarized by the city attorney’s office in a written notice to Aloul. They include:
In August 2018, police responded to reports of shots fired in the BP parking lot. When they arrived, they found a man who claimed to be working security for the gas station using a flashlight to look under parked cars with a handful of other people, as if searching for shell casings. He repeatedly denied anything illegal occurred, and then stated he was off the clock and left. A store clerk was unable to produce a video of what had happened upon request.
After a report that someone had stolen a wallet forgotten at the front counter on April 27, 2019, a St. Paul police sergeant attempted to call the BP station and get a copy of their surveillance video. The sergeant reported that every time she identified herself, the person on the other end hung up the phone.
On June 1, two people were arrested leaving the store with a firearm. In a police interview, one of the suspects said she preferred to buy tobacco at the shop because they sold her unpackaged cigarettes, or singles. That same day, shots were fired in the direction of cars that had just left the gas station. Police recovered shell casings.
On June 12, an underage decoy working with DSI successfully bought a package of Marlboro cigarettes.
On June 15, two men were arrested in the parking lot on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and a weapons violation after being spotted by police with a high-capacity magazine rifle.
Between 2 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. June 1 and during the same hours June 15 and again on June 22, a St. Paul police sergeant reported between 20 and 30 cars in the BP parking lot, with as many as 100 people congregating, dancing, drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. Store security did not ask them to leave.
On June 18, a DSI official hand-delivered a letter requesting video from June 12, when a previous city inspector had witnessed an employee give a customer two cigarette singles and cigar wraps, though no money was seen changing hands. When DSI officials showed up in person to pick up the video, store managers said it was unavailable because they had already given it to “an individual named Mark who works with the police,” according to the city attorney’s office.
On June 22, a St. Paul police sergeant captured images on his body camera of menthol cigarettes, berry flavored cigars, rum fusion cigars and other flavored tobacco products that are banned from St. Paul convenience stores.
Aloul said he’s been too preoccupied with an ill family member in recent months to focus on the store as much as he would like.
Nevertheless, he said he should not be held accountable for the city’s crime rate. He recently began closing between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m.
“The police failed to protect the customers,” he said. “They failed to protect us, and to control crime. And they want to shut the place down. Yes, there are some violations. We’re not perfect, you know? But their idea to shut it down completely is really ridiculous.”
Police in Inver Grove Heights shut down a homecoming dance at Simley High School on Saturday night after a report of a possible weapon at the event.
In a Facebook post, the police department said the school resource officer, who was at the event, along with high school officials were unable to substantiate the rumor but decided to shut down the dance early anyway.
“We take an incident like this very seriously and in the best interest of safety for all attending the dance the Inver Grove Heights Police Department along with Simley High School Administration decided to shut down the Homecoming dance early,” the post said. “The Inver Grove Heights Police Department will be working with Simley High School Administration to further investigate the situation.”
The Rev. William Land, right, speaks to congregation members Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, outside St. Alban’s Church of God, where his nephew Rayvell Carter was shot to death Wednesday after leaving Bible study. Memorial flowers and balloons to Carter are at left. (Kristi Belcamino / Pioneer Press)
During a moving church service Sunday morning, the Rev. William Land Sr. said if anyone had thoughts of retaliating against whoever murdered his nephew, that the family doesn’t believe in revenge.
Land asked parishioners and the public Sunday to focus on his nephew’s life instead of his death, saying that although Carter was in and out of trouble during his life, he died with his Bible near him and a strong faith in God.
Seeking to revenge the death would go against what the family believes in, Land said.
“We don’t believe in retaliation,” Land said. “We don’t believe in it. You know why we don’t believe in that? It’s impossible to get even. You see, the life of somebody you hate cannot be equivalent to the life of somebody you love. So it’s impossible to get even. For anybody who’s out there and thinks they want to retaliate to help us — please don’t do that. You are not respecting our family. We don’t believe in that.”
It’s up to God to seek vengeance, he said.
“You can’t tell me the life of somebody I don’t care about is going to be equivalent of the life of someone I love. I’m still going to have to deal with the loss of the person I care about,” Land said.
The homicide was the sixth fatal shooting in St. Paul this month and the 20th homicide of the year.
Land began Sunday’s church service by noting this statistic and asked, “What makes somebody think they have the right to murder someone else?”
Hatred, jealousy and revenge, he said.
“These are the emotions of somebody who is empty inside.”
Anybody who was involved in Carter’s slaying should repent, Land said.
“I pray whoever played a role in the murder of RayVell Carter, that they repent of their sins and give their lives to the Lord,” he said. “RayVell is not in any pain, but those who do not repent, their pain will be worse than imaginable if they don’t.”
Land said he’d received numerous phone calls from people outraged that his nephew was murdered leaving church. He said the pain of Carter’s death would not change if he’d died somewhere else.
Carter leaves behind three children.
RayVell Carter
“He was an awesome father and, more than anything these last few years, his life was filled with God,” said Carter’s aunt Shirley Land in an interview last week. “That was his life — church and family.”
“Why anyone would shoot into a crowd in a neighborhood while people are leaving church is incomprehensible,” St. Paul police spokesman Steve Linders said shortly after the shooting.
Land Sr., pastor at the church for 22 years, said he is usually at Bible study on Wednesdays, but he and his wife were at a grandson’s flag football game that night.
Attendance varies for Bible study — there could be 10 people to more than 30, Land said. Carter regularly participated.
The congregation is also struggling with Carter’s death. He was “deeply loved not only in our family, but in our ministry,” Land said.
The Rev. William Land speaks Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, at St. Alban’s Church of God about the death of his nephew, Rayvell Carter, 41, of Roseville, who was fatally shot Wednesday night after he left Bible study at the Summit-University neighborhood church. (Kristi Belcamino / Pioneer Press)
“RayVell was very charismatic in many ways,” Land said. “He had a very beautiful personality, charming, great sense of humor.”
Carter also had his struggles, Land said.
Carter was released from prison in August 2017 after he was sentenced on drug charges in 2013. He didn’t have any criminal cases since then, court records show.
During Sunday’s service, Land brought up Carter’s bouts with the law.
“My family always knew RayVell was a very gifted young man with a personality that could charm most people to believe in and love him. People would say they just love some RayVell,” Land said. “However, like many with those talents, they often are not used with the best intent or motive, and such was the case at various times in RayVell’s life. … For this reason, he experienced things in his life that were avoidable. Still, his parents, nor this ministry (ever) gave up on him.”
That attitude reflects the church’s motto, he said.
“He was a child of this church, and we don’t give up on our children,” he said.
His nephew’s pattern was often to get in “trouble” and then return to the church, and then get in trouble again and return to the church, Land said. But he said something about this return seemed different.
“But this time, this time,” Land said, Carter’s desire to live a life with God in it seemed greater than ever before.
“We … were able to witness the transformation that occurred in his life within the last year, and it was genuine.”
Land said he was proud to see Carter spending quality time with his three children.
“It’s really a testimony to the transformation,” Land said. “It was no longer about him. It was about him being the example that he should be as a man to his children.”
And the transformation in Carter came from his commitment to God, Land said.
“He gave his life to the Lord … and he did it without compromise,” Land said. Carter was writing gospel music and was hoping to make a video Sunday for a song he composed about his transformation, Land said.
In last week’s interview, Land said he didn’t know why his nephew was killed. He was asked if it the killer could be someone from Carter’s past.
“It’s possible, because if you think about how it went down, it sounds like he was a target,” Land said. “You know how life is. Some people could hold grudges.”
Carter’s funeral is scheduled for noon Friday at Redeeming Love Church in Maplewood.
Dozens of people marched Sunday evening from a St. Paul police station to the spot where a Little Canada man was shot and killed by an officer last week, where they spoke against police violence at a candlelight vigil.
Ronald Davis, 31, was fatally shot by Officer Steven Mattson last Sunday during an encounter at Thomas Avenue and Griggs Street.
Davis rear-ended Mattson‘s squad car when the officer was stopped at a stop sign, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the agency conducting the investigation.
Nekima Levy Armstrong speaks at a rally Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, near the spot where Ronald Davis was fatally shot by a St. Paul Police officer on Sept. 15 in St. Paul.
Both men exited their vehicles, and Davis brandished a knife and ignored repeated commands to drop it, the BCA said in a statement. During the confrontation, Mattson fatally shot Davis.
Mattson’s body-worn camera captured the incident. Police Chief Todd Axtell said the body-camera footage will be released this week.
“Enough is enough,” said civil rights attorney and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of the speakers at the candlelight vigil at the corner of Thomas Avenue and Griggs Street.
“This man should still be alive,” she said. “I don’t care what happened in that car situation.”
Protesters also heard from Toshira Garraway, whose fiancé, 24-year-old Justin Teigen, suffocated after he fled St. Paul police and hid in a recycling bin in 2009.
“We are tired and will no longer let you do this to us,” she said.
Davis’ wife knelt on the ground and lit sage and wept for her husband near flowers and memorial signs. Organizers held signs to block views of her and asked that no photos be taken out of respect for her privacy.
State Patrol vehicles were posted near the entrance to Interstate 94 and along various on-ramps to the freeway, possibly to handle protesters marching on the freeway.
The march, which began at the police department’s Western District office, and vigil was organized by Black Lives Matter Twin Cities Metro, Communities United Against Police Brutality, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, Justice4MarcusGolden, Justice for Justine Damond Ruszczyk and several other community organizations.
When protesters returned to the police substation they stuck their fliers on department windows before dispersing.
A man pepper-sprayed a 17-year-old employee at Fein Violins on Grand Avenue near Fairview Avenue, before getting away with the violins, about 1:15 p.m. Saturday.
At about 5 p.m. Saturday, someone brought one of the violins to Music Go Round on West Seventh Street to try to sell it and then left it, according to a police spokesman.
No one had been arrested as of Monday morning. The violins are worth thousands of dollars apiece, according to police.
Police ask anyone with information to call them at 651-266-5650.
A man stopped breathing after he was shot in St. Paul this weekend, though officers revived him, according to the police department.
The 31-year-old was in critical but stable condition after the shooting in an apartment building parking lot on the East Side near the Hazel Park Recreation Center.
Police responded to Hazel Street between East Seventh Street and Stillwater Avenue at 11:50 p.m. Saturday and found about 15 people surrounding a man lying on the ground, according to a police report. He was shot in the abdomen and forearm and, as officers tried to control his bleeding, he stopped breathing, the report continued.
Officers gave the man CPR compressions and he started breathing again, said Steve Linders, a St. Paul police spokesman. Paramedics took him to Regions Hospital.
No one had been arrested as of Monday morning.
The brother of the man who was shot told police they were hanging out by a tree and drinking beer when a man walked up, said something and shot his brother, Linders said. Police are investigating.
