A man who intentionally and fatally ran down an Eagan couple out for their evening walk last year has been sentenced to more than 47 years in prison.

Dakota County District Judge Shawn Moynihan on Friday sentenced Jonna Kojo Armartey, 38, formerly of Eagan, to 567 months in prison for killing Roger Peterson, 74, and Diane Peterson, 58, in an Eagan parking lot on June 28, 2018.

Armartey had pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in August 2018.

Armartey and the Petersons did not know each other.

While handing down the sentence, Moynihan told Armartey that after he deliberately struck the Petersons with his minivan he “left them lying in the parking lot with broken bodies, gasping for breath” and then “raced off and left them to die.”

“The Petersons were doing nothing wrong that night,” Moynihan said. “They were only at the wrong place at the wrong time. They did not deserve to die.”

Since the double fatal hit-and-run, Armartey has been committed as mentally ill and dangerous and has been at the Minnesota Security Hospital in St. Peter.

At Friday’s hearing, Armartey’s public defender, Catherine Turner, asked Moynihan to allow her client to remain at the hospital, calling him “a very sick man.”

“His sickness is why we are here today,” she said.

After sentencing Armartey to prison, Moynihan told him that while there he will have access to mental health programming, medications, counseling “or whatever else you may require.”

HE SPED AWAY AFTER HITTING COUPLE

According to investigators, Armartey was driving his minivan through Eagan around 10 p.m. when he spotted the Petersons on a walk and followed them to the parking lot at 2020 Silver Bell Road. In an interview, he told them they “freaked him out” so he drove “fast and hit them hard.”

After striking the couple, the van sped away.

Eagan police found the Petersons struggling to breathe due to their injuries. They were taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, where they were pronounced dead.

Armartey fled the scene, and hours later police found him at the AmericInn Hotel at 15000 Glazier Ave. in Apple Valley, according to the complaint.

Police say they found a van matching witnesses’ description at an Eagan restaurant — La Fonda de los Lobos, on Minnesota 13 — less than a mile away from the crime scene.

Officers found Diane’s cellphone “wedged” under the windshield wiper on the van’s passenger side, according to the complaint. There was also damage to the front end of the vehicle and a crack in the windshield on the passenger side.

ARMARTEY’S VIOLENT HISTORY

Armartey has a history of criminal activity. He was on probation at the time for three felony convictions, including vehicle theft, third-degree assault of a correctional officer and fourth-degree assault of a psychiatrist.

He was also civilly committed for more than a year and a half prior to the Eagan hit-and-run based upon a psychologist’s conclusion he was not mentally competent to proceed in connection with the case involving the psychiatrist.

Wearing glasses and a gray long-sleeved shirt, Armartey kept his head down during most of Friday’s sentencing. He did not address the court, instead, he had his attorney read short letters he wrote to the judge and to Peterson’s family, apologizing for “the pain this has caused” and asking for forgiveness.

“I’m not sure if I was seeing demons or if they were in my head,” he wrote to the family. “I’m so sorry about this so much. It should have never happened.”

PETERSONS LOVED BY MANY

The Petersons had been married 37 years and had two children together. It was a second marriage for Roger, who had two children with his first wife.

On Friday, three of the children spoke before the court. They described their parents as family-oriented people of deep faith, who were loved by many.

“My mom and dad were solid rocks that I could lean on for wisdom, knowledge and strength,” said daughter Anna Stahosky of Zumbrota, Minn.

The Petersons had eight grandchildren. It was a tradition of theirs that when a grandchild turned 7 they would take them to the Badlands.

Peterson said what Armartey did was “heinous and cowardly.”

“There is no amount of time or location that the defendant could serve that would make the loss of my parents easier,” he said.

MANKATO, Minn. — Authorities are investigating after a hunter reported finding a body in the woods near Mankato.

Deputies were called to the area northeast of Highway 83 on Thursday.

Authorities don’t know the name and identity of the person. The Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Office says there is no threat to the public.

Investigators from the sheriff’s office and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are investigating with help from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office.

A U.S. Postal Service worker from western Minnesota has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $100,000 in government benefits.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says 57-year-old Lisa Ann Schafer of Glenwood pleaded guilty to theft of government funds.

According to Schafer’s guilty plea and court documents, from September 2015 through early May 2019, Schafer claimed that a work-related injury prevented her from working full-time. She told her doctor that her medical condition required her to rest most of the day and that she could only tolerate sedentary work.

Schafer’s doctor limited her to no more than two hours of office work a day. That enabled Schafer to collect government benefits.

But prosecutors say Schafer was seen during that time running and using large arm movements to navigate dogs during dog-agility competitions.

ST. CLOUD — Prosecutors have filed a motion seeking an extended prison sentence for a Paynesville man whose daughter died in a fire he’s accused of starting intentionally.

John Sean Newport, 46, is charged with second-degree, unintentional murder while committing a felony in the July 23 death of his daughter, Jamey, 22. He is in the Stearns County Jail, held on $2 million bail.

His next court hearing is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 14.

The motion seeks a longer than required sentence and lays out ways the alleged crime was committed with particular cruelty, made it difficult for the victim to escape and endangered others.

John Newport is accused of using gasoline to set fire to a mobile home while his daughter was inside.

According to the motion, John Newport was living with Jamey Newport in the mobile home, and she was paying the bills. The afternoon of the fire, he allegedly asked his daughter to drive him to a hardware store, and when she refused began slamming things in the house and arguing with her.

When she said she was going to move out, he allegedly decided to set the mobile home on fire.

Newport allegedly poured gasoline in the home and on her beloved kittens in front of her. The afternoon before she died, a coworker visiting her saw her playing with the kittens outside the trailer. Jamey posted photos and videos of the kittens to her Facebook page, calling them her “babies.”

According to the motion, in a recorded 911 call, Jamey Newport told the operator that her father had poured gasoline in the house and on the kittens, and that she had gasoline on herself as well. In the recording, she can be heard saying her father was starting the fire. Then she screamed that her kittens were on fire, and she had to save them. She was found in the mobile home, but efforts to revive her were unsuccessful. She died of smoke inhalation.

Another aggravating factor listed in the motion is the close proximity of other mobile homes and a large tree with branches hanging over the Newport trailer and the one next door.

Police responded to a Monday morning shooting outside a Walmart store in Blaine.

A man in his 30s was shot in the ear by someone he knew, according to reports by KSTP-TV. The shooting happened at about 5 a.m. Monday.

The injured man was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

Authorities were searching for a suspect who drove away from the scene.

Investigators were reviewing surveillance video from the area. Police reported finding two spent casings near where the shooting happened.

A man who shot two South St. Paul police officers pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted first-degree murder, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announced Monday.

Upset at the thought of being evicted from his group home, Dustin Allen Bilderback, now 34, grabbed a shotgun from his car on July 19, 2018, and fired at four South St. Paul police officers, striking two of them.

Bilderback, who has a history of mental illness, was charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder and two counts of second-degree attempted murder in connection with the shooting outside the group home where he had been staying for the previous six months.

Judge Karen Asphaug ordered a pre-sentence investigation and set the sentencing date for Jan. 7. The additional second-degree attempted murder charges will be dismissed at sentencing.

The officers shot were Todd Waters, an 11-year veteran of the department, who was shot in the back, neck and arm, and Derek Kruse, a six-year veteran, who was hit in the leg but did not require hospitalization.

The criminal complaint gave the following details about the shooting:

On July 19, 2018, officers of the South St. Paul Police Department were dispatched to the group home to conduct a welfare check on Bilderback.

When they arrived, Bilderback and his mental health caseworker were outside the residence. Officers spoke to Bilderback and then began speaking to the caseworker about whether Bilderback should be placed on a 72-hour mental health hold.

While they were talking, Bilderback walked to his car parked in back of the group home. An officer followed him. When Bilderback reached his car, he pulled a shotgun out from the back seat. The officer turned and ran to take cover but Bilderback shot the officer in the back, neck and arm. Bilderback continued to fire as he walked toward the other officers, striking a second officer in the leg.

Two of the officers returned fire but did not hit Bilderback. They ordered him to set down the gun. When he did, he was arrested.

BARRON, Wis. — The western Wisconsin girl whose parents were fatally shot before she was kidnapped and held captive for 88 days before escaping from her abductor said she’s feeling stronger every day and is thankful for the kindness and concern expressed to her from people all over the country in the year after the crime.

Jayme Closs issued a statement Monday, a day before the one-year anniversary of the fatal shootings and abduction at her home near Barron. Closs said she is getting back to the activities she enjoys and loves hanging out with her friends.

The statement was read by family attorney Chris Gramstrup at a news conference at the Barron County Sheriff’s Department.

“She continues to work very, very hard on her emotional well-being,” Gramstrup said. “She’s moving forward courageously and reclaiming her life. Her incredible spirit and strength continues to inspire everyone around her.”

Grampstrup said Jayme, who has celebrated her 14th birthday, inherited her strength and soft heart from her father and mother. James and Denise Closs were killed at their home Oct. 15, 2018, by Jake Patterson, who abducted Jayme.

According to the criminal complaint, the then-21-year-old Patterson told investigators he knew Jayme “was the girl he was going to take” after he saw her getting on a school bus near her home. He made two aborted trips to the family’s home before carrying out the attack in which he killed Jayme’s mother in front of her, the complaint said.

In the days that followed, thousands of people volunteered to search for Jayme. Patterson hid Jayme in a remote cabin in Gordon, about 60 miles north of Barron, before she escaped and got help from a woman walking her dog.

Jayme told police that on the night she was abducted, she awoke to her dog’s barking, then woke her parents as a car came up the driveway. Her father went to the front door as Jayme and her mother hid in a bathtub, according to the complaint. Jayme told police she heard a gunshot and knew her dad had been killed.

Patterson — dressed in black and wearing a face mask — broke down the bathroom door, according to the complaint. He taped Jayme’s mouth, hands and ankles before pulling her out of the bathtub and shooting her mother in the head with a shotgun, the complaint said.

He dragged Jayme outside, threw her in the trunk of his car and drove off, according to the complaint.

When Patterson left the cabin or had friends over, he sealed her under the bed with tote boxes and weights so she couldn’t crawl out, sometimes for hours, according to the complaint. When his father visited, Patterson told investigators, he turned up the radio to conceal any noise she might make.

She escaped Jan. 10 when Patterson was away.

Patterson, who pleaded guilty to the crimes, is serving life in prison with no chance of parole. In July, Wisconsin authorities transferred him to New Mexico prison due to security concerns related to his notoriety.

Five young black men who posted a video of a manager at a Chipotle on Grand Avenue last year that they claimed showed her discriminating against them are now suing the national restaurant chain.

In addition to discrimination, the federal lawsuit claims Chipotle engaged in a “smear campaign” against the young men after they posted their video to Twitter.

One of the men received an onslaught of death threats and tweets containing racial epithets, the suit says.

The group is seeking financial damages from the company to compensate for the “deep humiliation, embarrassment and emotional distress,” they’ve endured because of its conduct, according to their lawsuit.

Their lawsuit leans on a finding by the city of St. Paul’s Department of Human Rights, which conducted an investigation into the incident and determined in July that “based on the preponderance of evidence” there was probable cause to suggest that the casual fast-food chain discriminated against the young men, according to the lawsuit.

In its answer filed Friday, Chipotle disputed much of the plaintiffs’ claims, calling one of them, “patently ridiculous.” It also took aim at the Department of Human Rights’ investigation, characterizing it as “inadequate and incomplete.”

The case stems from an incident that took place at the St. Paul Chipotle location last November, when a store manager refused to serve the five young men unless they pre-paid for their meals because she and at least one other employee believed they were part of a group of repeat dine-and-dash offenders.

One of the young men — Masud Ali — took a video of their interaction and posted it to Twitter. The video quickly went viral.

The footage begins with the employee telling the men, “You gotta pay, because you’ve never had money when you come in here.”

“Ya’ll are basically stereotyping us,” one of them replies.

Chipotle wound up firing the manager shortly after the incident, but then offered to rehire her days later, explaining in a statement that it received “additional information” that changed their understanding of what happened.

Their reversal came a day after media outlets published images of several older posts on Twitter from one of the young men’s accounts that appeared to discuss dining and dashing in the past.

In one from July 2015, Ali allegedly tweeted: “Dine and dash is forever interesting.”

In another: “Guys we’re borrowing food … that’s it and if the lady tires (sic) to stop you at the door don’t hesitate to truck the s— out of that b—-.”

Another read: “aye man I think Chipotle catching up to us fam … should we change locations…”

After the Tweets hit the media, Ali faced an onslaught of messages from the public attacking him for reportedly throwing up racial discrimination as a defense to get him out of trouble, according to the lawsuit.

Some people reportedly threatened to harm or kill him. One person referred to he and his friends as “true failed abortions,” the lawsuit said.

It’s not clear who first posted the alleged “retweets” but Ali never wrote them, according to Chris Penwell, an attorney representing the men. The suit says none of the other plaintiffs wrote them either.

Penwell went on to say that Chipotle had a duty to vet the origins of those Tweets, but it didn’t, instead allowing them to feed into a false narrative he says developed about his clients.

“They just let them hang out there,” Penwell said.

A spokesperson for the company had said shortly after announcing its decision to rehire the woman that its shift was not based on the tweets, but did no elaborate at the time what did.

Penwell also said that any assertion by Chipotle that his clients had dined and dashed at the chain previously was false.

He added that one of the young men had been in the restaurant on the same evening that another group’s credit card was declined, resulting in comped meals for them by the manager at the time, but said he was not a part of that group.

Chipotle has suggested that the failed credit card was a ruse to avoid payment. It also asserted that its employee believed that “some number of the plaintiffs group” had engaged in what it referred to as the “dine and dash scam” during a previous evening.

The company added in its answer that the plaintiffs were essentially accusing it of “hacking” into Ali’s account, calling the suggestion “patently ridiculous.”

While largely declining to comment on the lawsuit due to “pending litigation,” Chipotle’s chief corporation reputation officer, Laurie Schalow, repeated that assertion Monday, saying the company “has never hacked into anyone’s Twitter account,” adding: “The suggestion that we have done so is outrageous and absurd.”

Penwell said his lawsuit never asserts that the company hacked anyone. He added that he and his clients had hoped to reach a settlement with the company outside of court.

According to legal documents he previously told Chipotle’s legal counsel that his clients would agree to settle for $6 million.

Instead, the company filed an answer to the suit and had it moved to federal court. It had previously been filed in Ramsey County District Court.

Penwell said the city’s Human Rights department findings should help his clients case.

“The city of St. Paul concluded that there had been discrimination… Given the city did a thorough investigation, we are going to stand behind what they concluded,” he said.

The city’s investigation found that there was no evidence to suggest that any of the young men who were told to pre-pay for their food Nov. 15 were among the group  who could not pay for it in the previous incident, according to the department’s findings in the case issued this past July 24, which the plaintiffs’ filed with their lawsuit.

Further, the city said security footage taken of the incident showed a white woman approach the counter to order food while the men were still there. She was allowed to order food without being told to pre-pay for it, and then, when she got to the register to hand over her money, was told she didn’t need to pay at all, according to the legal document.

The encounter underscored the problem with Chipotle’s argument, the city’s report found, because it shows an employee waiving payment for a white woman, while telling the group of young black men that they couldn’t order food without proving they could pay for it, the findings say.

The Human Rights department’s findings do not make any mention of defamation.

Penwell said the case will next move into the discovery phase.

A St. Louis Park couple who authorities say lied about their 12-month-old being poisoned by fentanyl was charged with one count of child endangerment, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Monday.

Deja Harper, 28, and her partner, Waymon Murphy, 25, were also charged with one count of child neglect. Each made their first court appearance Monday.

The complaint gave the following details: On Oct. 3, police were called to the couple’s St. Louis Park apartment on a report that their 12-month-old child was unresponsive.

According to the complaint, Harper told the police the child likely swallowed an aspirin while she, Murphy and the baby were lying on the bed. Murphy had taken Tylenol for a headache earlier and forgotten to put the bottle away, she said. The couple saw a pill in the baby’s mouth and removed it, the complaint states.

When paramedics arrived, the baby was unresponsive and struggling to breathe. Doctors at the hospital intubated him.

When doctors asked the couple what happened, they maintained that the baby had consumed aspirin.

“Difficulty breathing was inconsistent with ingestion of Tylenol,” the complaint said.

Toxicological testing revealed the baby had fentanyl poisoning, the complaint states. The baby was hospitalized for six days.

While serving a search warrant, authorities found fentanyl pills in a pair of men’s shoes in a closet. Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid prescribed for severe pain. Illicitly manufactured, it is commonly abused for its heroin-like effect.

After the baby was admitted to the hospital, the couple was given urinalysis testing. Murphy tested positive for fentanyl. Authorities say they were unable to analyze Harper’s sample because it had been tampered with.

WORTHINGTON, Minn. — The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota has filed another lawsuit against the city of Worthington and its police department, alleging an officer and ride-along partner used excessive force during a January 2019 arrest of a person of color.

According to a civil complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court of Minnesota, while arresting Kelvin Francisco Rodriguez, Worthington patrol officer Mark Riley and ride-along partner Evan Eggers broke four of Rodriguez’s ribs and lacerated his pancreas and liver. As a result, Rodriguez was admitted into an intensive care unit for five days and underwent multiple surgeries and medical procedures.

“What happened to me is happening to other people, but they are silent,” Rodriguez said in a press release issued by the ACLU-MN on Monday. “That’s why I’m working with the ACLU of Minnesota to file suit. As a human being, I ask that the police be held accountable for not adequately doing their job and respecting me as a human being. My wife and children saw me going in and out of life and death. I think it is fair to ask for justice. I don’t want to see the officer in uniform.”

The civil suit claims that Rodriguez — a Sheldon, Iowa, resident who works at the JBS pork processing plant in Worthington — was driving in Worthington and noticed a police car. Reportedly fearful of being a person of color in the city of Worthington — the southwestern Minnesota city was sued by the ACLU-MN in 2017 in a similar case — Rodriguez pulled into an auto dealership parking lot. The suit alleges police didn’t have reason to suspect Rodriguez of wrongdoing, but they followed him. Rodriguez got out of the vehicle and ran before he was arrested with allegedly excessive force.

Rodriguez’s requests for medical assistance were reportedly initially ignored. Once medical assistance was provided, he was airlifted to Sioux Falls, S.D., and underwent multiple surgeries and medical procedures. He incurred medical expenses close to $150,000, the complaint states.

A video of the arrest has also been uploaded online by the ALCU, but the dash camera footage provides a limited view of the arrest.

The civil lawsuit names Riley, Eggers and Worthington Police Chief Troy Appel in their individual capacities, as well as the city of Worthington and its police department.

Appel returned a phone call but said any comment would need to come from the city’s attorney handling the matter. That legal representation has yet to be determined.

KSTP-TV reported that Rodriguez faced no criminal charges as a result of the arrest.

But KSTP said the city provided court documents indicating Rodriguez was later cited for a scuffle that broke out earlier in the day at a different location. He entered a guilty plea on Friday for disorderly conduct.

Prosecutors have decided a man with a gun permit was justified when he shot and wounded a 15-year-old boy in St. Paul last spring.

Surveillance footage showed the 27-year-old man was walking when a vehicle pulled up, four people exited and ran “full speed” in his direction, according to a police report.

The man ran away from them “as fast as he could for as long as he could,” but they were gaining on him, said his attorney, Tim Webb.

“It was clearly a case of self defense,” Webb said recently. “He felt he had no options and he was scared for his life.”

The man, who has a permit to carry a handgun, fired and shot a 15-year-old in the chin.

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office concluded earlier this month that based on evidence collected by police, including video from the area, the use of force “was reasonable and justified” and he would not be charged, said Dennis Gerhardstein, the office’s spokesman.

The man moved after the shooting because he was worried people “would come looking for him” and he’s still concerned for his safety, Webb said.

FRIENDS BROUGHT TEEN TO HOSPITAL

The shooting happened shortly before 1 a.m. on May 24. The man called 911 to report “he was attacked by multiple people and took two shots at the group and may have hit one of the people,” according to a police report.

The man told police he just purchased a new car and didn’t yet have a permit to park by his address, so he parked nearby and was walking at Jackson and Mount Airy streets, north of the Capitol and Regions Hospital. A sedan drove by him quickly, but then the driver backed up, drove past again and parked.

When males got out of the vehicle and started following him, he walked faster and then ran as they ran toward him. He said they were yelling something at him. Police reports don’t specify why they were running at the man.

The man turned to face them, pointed his gun at the male closest to him and fired two rounds, according to the report. He said they all ran away, got back in the sedan and left.

Soon after, a 15-year-old was brought to Regions Hospital by three other juveniles. They initially told an officer it was a drive-by shooting, but two of them later “refused to give information about how their friend … was injured,” a police report said.

Another said they were walking down a street, possibly University Avenue, when someone drove by in a vehicle and shot at them. The 15-year-old reported he heard two quick “pops” then realized he was shot at.

The teen was treated for his injury and ran out of the hospital in his underwear and socks, according to a police report. A Hennepin County child protection services worker informed an investigator the teen had an active warrant because he fled three shelters in the previous two weeks.

The boy’s mother described him as “a chronic runaway” and said “she has no idea how or why he was in St. Paul,” the investigator wrote in a report.

The investigator told the mother “the circumstances surrounding him being shot may be different than what he told the police,” the report continued. She responded “she would not be surprised that he was not honest with the police.”

In a separate case a month earlier in St. Paul, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged a man, who had a permit to carry a gun, with assault.

Vincent Nesta Trotter is accused of wounding an auto theft suspect who ran from a crash and into his yard in the Payne-Phalen area. Prosecutors say the man was walking away when Trotter shot him. Trotter has pleaded not guilty and his court case is ongoing.

An Anoka man shoved his 9-months pregnant girlfriend out the door of a moving vehicle while the two drove home from a baby shower this past Sunday, causing injuries to the woman and potential injuries to their unborn child, authorities say.

The woman was taken by ambulance to Regions Hospital after landing on the pavement as her boyfriend, Lance Lamar Booth, 24, drove away with the couple’s 10-month-old child in tow, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in Ramsey County District Court.

The two had left a baby shower family and friends threw for them in Roseville Sunday evening and were driving home between two other vehicles from the party when one of the other drivers saw Booth grab his girlfriend’s hair and punch her in the face, the charges say.

A woman driving in the vehicle in front of the couple stopped her car and got out. The vehicle Booth and his girlfriend were in also stopped.

As she opened the passenger door of the car Booth was in and tried to pull him off the pregnant woman, Booth climbed over the center console and pushed his girlfriend against the driver’s seat door, the complaint said.

Then he wrestled control of the steering wheel away from her, pressed down on the gas and started driving away, charges say.

As the car was moving down the street, he shoved his pregnant girlfriend out of the vehicle, the complaint said.

Two police officers in the area, as well as other witnesses, reportedly saw the incident.

Police followed Booth for several blocks before he finally stopped.

He was uncooperative during his arrest, telling officers to shoot him, the complaint said.

He reportedly appeared to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time. The results of a blood test are pending.

Neither the woman’s condition nor the condition of her unborn child were disclosed in the charging documents.

Booth was charged Monday with felony-level domestic assault and criminal vehicular operation resulting in bodily harm.

His next court appearance in the case is schedule for Oct. 28.

The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office is investigating four reports of sexual assaults and evidence indicates the same man is responsible.

The man is suspected of groping four women in Vadnais Heights this month, Undersheriff Mike Martin said Tuesday. Authorities are asking for the public’s help to identify the suspect.

The sheriff’s office also said the man is a suspect in a burglary of an occupied dwelling because, in one of the cases, he entered a hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express on County Road E East — off Interstate 35E — and groped an employee on Thursday about 9:50 a.m.

Also on that day, about an hour later at 10:55 a.m., the man is suspected of grabbing a customer’s buttocks inside the Walmart on County Road E East. He then tried to grab her in the front, but she fought him off, Martin said.

The man is under investigation for groping an employee at the same Holiday Inn Express last Tuesday about 12:45 a.m., according to Martin. He’s also suspected of grabbing a worker’s buttocks at the Fairfield Inn & Suites on County Road E East on Oct. 5.

“The behavior is brazen and we’re concerned it may escalate, so it’s important that we identify the individual involved before he victimizes someone else,” Martin said.

The sheriff’s office released surveillance photos of a man, who they said is the suspect. He is described as 20 to 30 years old, African American, with a slender build and a small beard. He is believed to be driving a dark Volvo S40 sedan from the early 2000s with silver rims and a Minnesota license plate.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the sheriff’s office at 651-266-7320.

The Sherburne County sheriff’s office is asking the public for help in finding a missing 6-year-old boy who got off the bus after school, ran off to play with the family dog and hasn’t been seen since.

Authorities say the boy, named Ethan, got off the bus about 4:10 p.m. with his siblings near Highway 25 and County Road 16. He has blond hair and is wearing a light blue Becker spirit T-shirt, grey Becker sweatpants and a blue hoodie.

They ask anyone who saw, heard or knows anything about the boy’s locations to call 911.

BECKER, Minn. — A 6-year-old boy missing in Sherburne County was found safe early Wednesday after a search by hundreds of volunteers and the use of a drone with a thermal camera that helped locate the child in a dark cornfield.

The boy, named Ethan, hadn’t been seen since 4:10 p.m. on Tuesday when he got off a school bus with his siblings near Highway 25 in Becker and ran to play with the family dog, according to the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office. Becker is located about 45 miles northwest of Minneapolis.

The sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page that Ethan was found safe with his dog about 1:50 a.m. on Wednesday, about 1.5 miles from his home. He was brought to a hospital to be checked and was cold but otherwise OK, authorities said. Temperatures in the area were in the low 40s overnight Tuesday.

One of the more than 600 volunteers who helped search for the boy brought his drone with thermal imaging. The device targeted Ethan and the dog in the cornfield that had already been searched, sheriff’s officials said.

“If not for that drone, I’m not sure we would have found him,” Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott said.

WCCO-TV reported that the drone pilot, Steve Fines, said that he had never used a drone in a search operation before.

“It was a moment that was going to make his parents so happy, and vicariously we all felt that,” Fines said.

Two men picked up a couple of 16-year-old girls, got them drunk, and then used cell phones to record sexual encounters they had with them at a Little Canada apartment, charges say.

The men — Michael Anthony Koenig and Chase Dominique Johnson, both 24 — are now charged with using the minors in pornographic works, according to criminal complaints filed this week in Ramsey County District Court.

Johnson and Koenig reportedly picked up the teens this past March in Koenig’s Jeep and took them back to his Little Canada apartment.

They gave the girls vodka, and both became “heavily intoxicated,” charges say.

The men asked the girls to take off their clothing, and then they engaged in sexual conduct with them while filming it on cell phones, the complaint said.

Koenig drove them back to one of the girl’s homes later that evening after her mother called her cell phone repeatedly. At some point, the girl called her mother back, but the woman could only hear “tussling” in the background, charges say.

She yelled that the daughter needed to return home immediately or she’d call the police, the complaint said.

Koenig and Johnson reportedly dropped the teens off shortly thereafter.

The next morning, one of the girls awoke to discover that a SnapChat application had been added to her phone along with a message from Johnson containing “lewd emojis,” the complaint said.

The teens soon realized the men had shared the videos taken of their encounter with others on SnapChat and Facebook, and that Koenig had posted one of the videos on a pornographic website, according to the charges.

In addition to using minors in pornographic works, the men are charged with two counts of possessing pornographic works involving minors. Koenig also was charged with one count of dissemination of the materials.

They were charged via warrant earlier this week.

Neither had an attorney listed for them in court records.

Former Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch turned political commentator is recovering at home after getting hit by an SUV outside a Starbucks in St. Paul on Tuesday morning.

Although her left wrist was fractured, her sense of humor was intact when she posted about the accident on social media Tuesday evening: “Today I got hit by a car,” tweeted Koch, 48, a political strategist. “Walking this am, a lady pulled out of Starbucks directly into me. Other than a fractrd wrist & feeling v. banged up. I’m home & comfortable. @javimorillo points out, getting taken out outside a Starbucks, while in yoga pants is entirely basic & on brand.”

In a short interview with the Pioneer Press on Wednesday, Koch said she and her friend had stopped at the Starbucks at Snelling and Marshall avenues after their usual morning walk. After getting their drinks, the women — along with her friend’s dog — proceeded to head out at about 7:10 a.m.

“We were on the sidewalk in front of the drive-through exit on Snelling and we started walking in front of her (the driver of the SUV) and she just started going,” Koch said. “She hit my leg and then she kept going. I ended up on her hood — along with my coffee. I remember thinking, ‘I don’t want to get pushed onto Snelling, there are so many cars.'”

Fortunately, she says, the vehicle did stop before reaching Snelling Avenue. After exchanging information with the driver, a stunned Koch headed home but then sought medical attention.

“My whole left side hurt,” she said.

Koch also filed a police report; a St. Paul police spokesman on Wednesday said that the case is under investigation. That particular Starbucks is known for its traffic issues.

For Koch, it was a bumpy start to life in St. Paul.

“I just moved from Minneapolis to St. Paul,” said Koch. “I still love my neighborhood, though. It’s just adorable.”

She even went for a walk on Wednesday morning.

Koch represented Buffalo as a Republican when she was a member of the Minnesota Senate from 2005 to 2013 and was the first woman elected as Senate majority leader.

Koch has since been a strategist and lobbyist and a regular at the Capitol. She is also one of four political commentators — two liberals, two conservatives — that debate politics and other issues on the Wrong About Everything weekly podcast.

LITTLE FALLS, Minn. — A driver who reportedly shot at law enforcement officers is believed to have suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head following a police pursuit, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension reported Wednesday.

The BCA stated in a news release it is investigating the officer use-of-force incident, which happened Tuesday night in Morrison County in central Minnesota.

Just after 5 p.m. Tuesday, Todd County sheriff’s office deputies attempted to conduct a traffic stop near Browerville in southeast Todd County related to an ongoing investigation of suspected criminal activity, the BCA stated.

One of the officers, who discharged bean bag rounds or chemical munitions during the incident, was identified in the statement as Little Falls police officer Joshua Burgardt, who has been with the Little Falls Police Department for 13 years.

The identity of one Morrison County sheriff’s office employee was withheld per state law that protects the identity of an undercover law enforcement officer.

In recounting the event, the BCA reported the driver did not stop and a pursuit began heading east on County Road 16 into Morrison County.

Morrison County sheriff’s deputies and Minnesota State Patrol troopers joined in the pursuit, which reportedly at times reached speeds of 105 mph.

The driver shot at law enforcement during the pursuit, the BCA reported.

No officers were injured.

“At one point, the driver lost control of the vehicle on southbound Highway 10,” the BCA stated. “The vehicle left the road and struck a tree in the west ditch near County Road 16 in Cushing.

The driver did not follow officers’ commands to exit the vehicle and the pursuing agencies were joined at the scene by the Morrison County SWAT Team. At one point, officers fired beanbag rounds to knock out the vehicle’s back window and then fired chemical munitions into the vehicle.”

As officers approached the vehicle they found the driver with an apparent gunshot wound to the head, and officers provided medical aid at the scene, the BCA stated. The driver was taken to St. Gabriel’s Hospital in Little Falls and then by air ambulance to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, where he is being treated for an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, the BCA reported.

No officers were wearing body cameras, the BCA stated, adding that the agency will determine whether squad cameras captured the shooting during the pursuit or the incident at the crash site. BCA crime scene personnel reported recovering a handgun from inside the vehicle.

AITKIN, Minn. — Michelle Mae, the 35-year-old Outing woman reported missing earlier this month in northern Minnesota, was likely the victim of a homicide, and the Aitkin County sheriff’s office reports that a man is in custody.

Mae was reported missing after her family had no contact from her since Oct. 3. Authorities reported her body was located Tuesday on rural private property near Swatara during the execution of a search warrant. Ramsey County’s medical examiner’s preliminary findings conclude the likely cause of death is homicide. No other details were immediately disclosed.

Swatara is about an hour northeast of Brainerd.

On Oct. 4, upon locating Mae’s 2004 Jeep Liberty, the sheriff’s office reports an investigation and searches began. Mae’s vehicle was transported to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for processing.

On Oct. 5, during the missing person investigation, Joshua Emil Karjala, 34, of Swatara, was arrested for probation violation. Karjala is currently in custody. The rural private property where Mae’s body was found was Karjala’s residence.

Over the course of the following 10 days, numerous agencies participated in daily ground searches and K-9 searches in a 5-mile radius of the location where Mae’s Jeep was recovered.

Drone searches and water searches were conducted. Search warrants were issued for cellular telephone data. In addition, search warrants were executed at a rural private property near Swatara. Aitkin County Sheriff Dan Guida reported foul play was believed to be involved in Mae’s disappearance.

On Tuesday, while executing another search warrant at the rural private property, Mae’s body was located.

This investigation will be forwarded to the Aitkin County attorney for the consideration of criminal charges.

AITKIN, Minn. — Sheriff’s officials say the death of a northeastern Minnesota woman who had been missing for nearly two weeks appears to be a homicide.

Authorities had been searching for 35-year-old Michelle Mary Mae, of Outing, since her family reported her missing Oct. 3. Her body was found Tuesday on some rural property near Swatara where deputies executed a search warrant.

A 34-year-old man who lives on the property was arrested for a probation violation Oct. 5, a day after Mae’s SUV was found. Swatara is about 30 miles south of Grand Rapids.

The Ramsey County Medical Examiner, which conducted the autopsy, has ruled Mae’s death is likely a homicide. Officials are still waiting for toxicology test results.