REGIONAL BRIEFS: Man pleads guilty in totem pole death
INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. -- A man accused of murdering his wife with a totem pole the two were carving pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder.
Credit: Forum News Service
North Dakota
Man accused of luring girl, 12, he taught
GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- A former Edmore teacher and coach working this year in Grand Forks schools was accused Wednesday of luring a 12-year-old girl from his former school with sexual messages and photos online.
Jeremy Patrick Thompson, 28, was arrested Wednesday and appeared in a Grand Forks courtroom on two counts of luring by computer someone he knew was younger than 15. Each count is a felony with a maximum prison sentence of 10 years.
State District Judge Lawrence Jahnke set Thompson’s bail at $50,000 and scheduled his preliminary hearing for Feb. 13 when he can formally enter a plea. Thompson remained in the Grand Forks County jail Wednesday night.
Thompson is a paraeducator at two middles school and Red River High School, according to Grand Forks School District officials . He also coaches at a middle school. They said he is on unpaid leave pending the outcome of his case.
Police documents say the girls mother contacted authorities after finding “inappropriate” messages from Thompson on her daughter’s Facebook account. With Grand Forks police detectives posing as the girl, Thompson sent sexually explicit messages and provided access to nude pictures of himself.
(GFH)
Oakes man accused of shaking infant girl
OAKES, N.D. – An Oakes man faces an aggravated assault charge for allegedly shaking an 8-month-old girl repeatedly, causing bleeding within her skull and eyes.
Authorities took Oscar Castro into custody Tuesday night, Dickey County State’s Attorney Gary Neuharth said.
Castro, 34, was being held Wednesday in the Barnes County Jail in Valley City. A bail hearing hadn’t been set.
The complaint, brought by Special Agent Cal Dupree of the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation, was filed Tuesday in Dickey County District Court and signed by Judge Daniel Narum. It identifies the 8-month-old child by her initials, A.K.
The alleged incident happened Saturday in Oakes. The girl suffered intracranial bleeding and hemorrhage to both eyes, the complaint states.
(FF)
WF student’s death 4th this school year
WEST FARGO, N.D, – A West Fargo High School junior has died, a School District spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday.
Makenzie Walkin, 17, is the student, but no further information on when she died, or under what circumstances, was immediately available, said Heather Konschak, Community Relations Coordinator for the district.
Konschak said the district was informed of Walkin’s death Wednesday morning.
Walkin is the fourth West Fargo High School student to have died in the last five weeks.
The other three students died within a few days of each other.
Sophomore Tessa Miller died Dec. 5. The cause of her death was not released.
On Dec. 7, senior Levi Schulz and junior Ian Alves died.
Schulz died of injuries he suffered after being struck by a vehicle on Sheyenne Street just south of Interstate 94.
Alves died after an 18-month battle with two aggressive forms of cancer.
(FF)
Minnesota
Man pleads guilty in totem pole death
INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn. -- A man accused of murdering his wife with a totem pole the two were carving pleaded guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder.
Carl Chester Muggli of Ray had been charged with premeditated first-degree murder and intentional second-degree murder in the Nov. 26, 2010, death of his wife, Linda, 61, who died of severe head trauma when the log the couple had been carving for a totem pole landed on her. He has been in custody on $2 million bail.
Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 4, according to Koochiching County Attorney Jeffrey Naglosky.
His murder trial was scheduled to begin Monday. Because of pretrial publicity, the trial was going to be held at the Beltrami County Courthouse in Bemidji, 114 miles southwest of the Koochiching County Courthouse in International Falls.
Carl and Linda Muggli were married 24 years and had become internationally recognized for their work carving totem poles on their 20-acre property near Ray in Koochiching County.
Charges were brought against Muggli after investigators learned of an Alabama woman who allegedly carried on intimate and romantic Facebook conversations with him. The woman told a Koochiching County sheriff’s deputy that she was on the phone with Muggli on the day his wife died and she heard him arguing with his wife about getting a divorce. Muggli initially told authorities the totem pole death was an accident.
(DNT)
Alleged shoplifter arrested after chase
DILWORTH, Minn. – A 44-year-old shoplifter was arrested here after allegedly shoplifting and then leading police on a high speed chase, according to a release from the Dilworth Police Department.
Bradley Arlen Boulduc, of East Grand Forks, was arrested on charges of fleeing a police officer in a motor vehicle, theft, careless driving, possession of shoplifting gear, driving without insurance and a vehicle registration violation, the release stated.
Police were notified that Boulduc was allegedly shoplifting from the Walmart here about 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday. Boulduc fled the scene, but an officer was given a description of the pickup truck he was driving, the release states.
That’s when Boulduc led police on a high speed chase before he was eventually stopped by Glyndon police and Clay County deputies, the release states.
(FF)
More from around the web
RSS Feeds