It was the beginning of December 2015 when Southwest Junior High School resource officer Troy Meyer started feeling ill. When he started becoming short of breath, he went to the doctor to get checked. It was determined Troy had a severe lung infection. He was low on oxygen and experiencing difficulty breathing. They decided to admit him and monitor his oxygen levels.

Meyer’s health did not improve, so doctors performed an ultrasound and found a blood clot near his right collarbone. They started to treat the blood clot, but Meyer had a severe allergic reaction to the blood clot medication that caused him to have a severe asthmatic attack and required him to be moved to the intensive care unit. At this point, his lungs were working so hard to breathe that he needed to be placed on a ventilator to help him regulate his breathing. His breathing and overall health slowly deteriorated, and eventually doctors decided to place Meyer in a medically induced coma so that his body would begin to relax, heal and not fight the ventilator. Due to the infection, allergic reaction and the fighting of the ventilator, Meyer’s lungs were only functioning at 10 percent capacity. The damage was deemed irreversible.

On Dec. 23, Meyer was placed on the list to receive a new set of lungs. On Jan. 4, a new set became available and Meyer underwent a 10-hour transplant surgery. The surgery was a success and by Jan. 12, Meyer’s voice was coming back and he was testing out his ability to handle solid foods again.

Upon hearing of Meyer’s medical condition, the students at Southwest Junior High decided to take action. The students raised $1,600 through a “Hats off for Officer Meyer” campaign, which allowed students to wear a hat to school one day in exchange for a donation of at least $1. According to Principal Scott Geary, many students brought more than a dollar.

“We do a fundraiser once a quarter for various causes,” Geary said, “but when the word around school got out that Officer Meyer’s family needed help, it became more personal and more important for our students and staff to help out.”

Geary said Meyer, a 10-year veteran of the Forest Lake Police Department, has been a fixture in the school over the past three years.

“He builds relationships with students and tries to teach them the law and how to be responsible,” he said. “Even if they get in trouble, they feel secure knowing he is here to help them.”

Meyer is currently still in the hospital at the University of Minnesota, but he may be able to come home within the next week or two. His wife, Sarah, said that the fundraiser was a complete surprise. Troy was on a ventilator machine in the ICU right after his transplant surgery when he heard the news.

“Troy loves his job and the kids at Southwest,” Sarah said. “He goes out of his way to get to know the kids and staff to make a positive connection with them. It is amazing how much love and support we have received from the community. We have such a wonderful support team rooting for us. It is so inspiring and uplifting.”

The next step for Troy Meyer is a three- to six-month stint in rehab before potentially returning to his job at Southwest. Anyone wishing to follow Meyer’s progress or make a donation to defray medical costs can visit his CaringBridge site at www.caringbridge.org/visit/troymeyer.

A Hugo man was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct after Forest Lake police investigated claims that he’d molested a 3-year-old female relative.

Michael John Quesnel, 24, made his first court appearance for the charge on Feb. 1. According to court records, police began investigating Quesnel after receiving a report on Jan. 20 that the girl’s mother had taken her daughter to the doctor after the girl had exhibited bed wetting and several symptoms related to having pain in her genitals. Quesnel had been taking care of the girl during the day while the girl’s mother was at work, and the mother said she found searches for incest pornography on Quesnel’s phone.

During the investigation, police learned that the girl’s sister, now a teenager, also alleged that she had been molested by Quesnel between the ages of five or six years to 11.

Ultimately, police interviewed Quesnel, who allegedly admitted his guilt, saying that he didn’t know why he had “touched her.”

“It just happened,” he reportedly said. “I snapped.”

Records state that Quesnel relayed one incident specifically, saying that it had taken place a few weeks prior while he was watching the girl and an infant relative in an apartment in Forest Lake. As the girl was playing, Quesnel allegedly said he picked her up and sexually assaulted her.

During the interview, Quesnel also allegedly admitted to other sexual encounters with relatives. The maximum penalty of his charge is 25 years in prison, a $35,000 fine or both.

A Forest Lake couple will be sentenced March 17 for reportedly defrauding Ramsey County for about $156,000 in public assistance.

Eric Joseph Vacko, 35, and Brittany Ann Vacko, 26, entered Alford pleas last week related to their charges, which were first filed in spring of 2015. An Alford plea is not an admission of guilt but rather an acknowledgment that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict.

The Vackos were hit with a variety of charges for their crimes, including wrongfully obtaining assistance, perjury, forgery and theft by swindle. First applying for public assistance in 2011, court records state, the Vackos consistently concealed their residential and work history from Ramsey County welfare authorities, claiming to be out of work and living with a relative in St. Paul when in fact they were involved in multiple automotive businesses and had moved, first to Isanti County and then to Forest Lake in early 2014. During that time, according to records, they Eric lied about being a student at Anoka Technical College while Brittany forged a doctor’s note saying that she had to stay home and take care of her son.

Assault

A Forest Lake man was charged with felony domestic assault in Washington County Court after he allegedly threatened his parents and kept them in their Scandia home for five hours.

According to court records, Brandon Robert Peterson, 36, of Forest Lake, has multiple prior convictions of assault and other related behavior, including violating restraining orders. One of his parents reported to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office that on the evening of Jan. 17, Peterson had come to their home on the 10900 block of 185th Street North in Scandia. He was allegedly angry and screaming at the couple, demanding that they give him items in their home. He reportedly kept them in the house for five hours, not letting them out of his sight.

The following are other recent Washington County court cases related to the Forest Lake area:

• Nicholas James Petersen, 27, of Marine on St. Croix, was sentenced Dec. 30 for receiving stolen property in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Jakob Richard Heir, 30, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Dec. 30 for a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Regina Janee Todd, 24, of Brooklyn Center, was sentenced Dec. 30 for check forgery in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Craig Allen Peterson, 36, of Stacy, was sentenced Dec. 31 for issuing a dishonored check in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Brittany Lee Spence, 24, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Dec. 31 for check forgery and a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Shawn James Lehmann, 40, of Forest Lake, was charged Jan. 4 with three counts of second-degree assault and one count of domestic assault. Read more in the Jan. 7 story, “Man arrested for wielding knife.”
• Mark Woods, Jr., 27, of St. Paul, was charged Jan. 5 with violating an order for protection.
• Jason Earl Bubb, 34, of Anoka, was charged Jan. 6 with first-degree drug sale in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Rainy Sky Rose, 31, of Forest Lake, was charged Jan. 7 with child neglect.
• Justin Anthony Williams, 35, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Jan. 8 for theft by swindle.
• Claudia Maria Jansen, 49, of Forest Lake, was charged Jan. 12 with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.
• Victoria Rose Lindstrom, 20, of Forest Lake, was charged Jan. 14 with a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Mee Xiong, 31, of Minneapolis, was charged Jan. 15 with identity theft in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Nickena Marie Peet, 51, of Pine City, was sentenced Jan. 19 for financial transaction card fraud in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Ashley Marie Sample, 21, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Jan. 20 for a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Brandon Robert Peterson, 36, of Forest Lake, was charged Jan. 20 for a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Joshua Richard Sommer, 25, of Forest Lake, was charged Jan. 21 with a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Stephen Jon Barthold, 52, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Jan. 27 for aiding and abetting first-degree drug possession.
• Troy Anthony Dye, 24, of Blaine, was sentenced Jan. 27 for a fifth-degree drug crime in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.

Forest Lake police arrested two male suspects in connection with an alleged second-degree assault during a two-hour time period in which various law enforcement agencies surrounded a home on the 200 block of 2^nd Avenue Southwest, just west of Wells Fargo.

According to police, an assault with a weapon was reported at the home around 11:30 a.m. The victims had left the home, but police set up a perimeter around the residence in order to protect residents if a suspect attempted to flee. After setting up around the residence, police called into the home and asked the people inside to come out. One male came out and was taken into custody, but the other did not exit the building. Police ultimately went into the house and arrested the second suspect, clearing the scene shortly after – about two hours after they arrived. Neither person resisted arrest; police were unsure why the second suspect would not leave the home.

The suspects’ names and the kind of weapon used in the crime have not yet been released.

Forest Lake police were joined by members of the Forest Lake Fire Department, Wyoming Police Department and the Minnesota State Patrol at the scene.

One of the men taken into custody during a two-hour police incident on 2^nd Avenue Southwest Feb. 23 has been charged with terroristic threats for allegedly menacing some acquaintances with a samurai sword.

Simon Vicente-Santiago, 31, of Forest Lake, was also charged Feb. 24 for fifth-degree drug possession in connection with the incident. The other man arrested by police was not charged; police reported that he was in his room in the home on the 200 block of 2^nd Avenue and did not hear police commands to leave the building.

According to court records, two people reported to police in the late morning of Feb. 23 that Vicente-Santiago had threatened to kill them with a sword, walking into a bedroom in their home and placing a samurai sword to their necks. He then cut a speaker cord with the sword and left the room.

Police surrounded the home starting around 11:30 a.m. Records state that Vicente-Santiago came out of the home and surrendered after police called into the home. Upon searching the residence, officers allegedly found a sword under his bed, and during Vicente-Santiago’s booking, they found two dollar bills that contained a substance that field tested for cocaine.

Vicente-Santiago allegedly told officers that the two people who reported him to police had been listening loudly to music and that he had knocked on their door multiple times asking them to turn down to volume. After he did this, Vicente-Santiago said, the duo came to his door and knocked on it, so he answered the door with the sword drawn and told them they would not be able to hurt him.

A Forest Lake man was sentenced to at least two years in prison after he left the scene of a hit-and-run with a victim in a wheelchair last fall.

Artevis Dewayen Glaze, 38, was sentenced for his criminal vehicular operation conviction on Feb. 22. According to court records, Glaze was driving his girlfriend’s car around 11:15 p.m. Sept. 4, 2015, when he hit a man in a wheelchair in the 600 block of Fourth Street Southwest. He left the scene, and witnesses were able to pinpoint his car at a nearby apartment. When police arrived at the crash scene, the victim, whose name has not been released, was screaming in pain and having trouble breathing, and he later had to be put into a medically induced coma so doctors could perform brain surgery to treat injuries suffered in the crash.

After locating the car, which was damaged in ways consistent with the crash, officers found Glaze inside of the apartment and questioned him about his evening activities. Glaze reportedly told police that a friend named “Justin” had taken the car that evening, but when pressed, he would not say anything else.

Meth seller

A Forest Lake woman charged last summer for selling methamphetamine was sentenced to at least two years and three months in prison Feb. 10 after being convicted for second-degree drug sale.
According to court records, Forest Lake police heard reports that Regina Marie Winter, 44, was selling large quantities of meth in and around Forest Lake, and in April 2015, law enforcement set up a buy with a confidential informant in which Winter sold 8 grams of meth.

When police arrested Winter in late July, stopping her car in the Forest Lake Wal-Mart parking lot, they located about 35 grams of meth and some drug paraphernalia in her vehicle. She was also carrying more than $600 in cash.

A 28-year-old Forest Lake man was apprehended by police after a high-speed chase that ended near the intersection of Fourth Street Southwest and 11th Avenue Southwest the evening of March 5.
According to police, shortly before 10:30 p.m., an officer observed a Dodge Avenger being driven at a high rate of speed north on Interstate Highway 35, at times reaching speeds of 90 mph. The officer pursued, and the Avenger turned onto Broadway in Forest Lake and sped through town, driving 50 to 60 mph. Fearing that the vehicle’s high speed would cause a danger to residents, officers gave chase and deployed stop sticks to the vehicle on 11th Avenue Southwest, near Belz Park.

The sticks punctured two tires, halting the Avenger. Officers arrested Justin Michael Scanlon for fleeing in a motor vehicle and DWI (a breath test allegedly showed him as being over the legal blood alcohol limit). During a search of the vehicle, officers also allegedly found a substance they believed to be marijuana.

Church burglary

Police are still investigating an early-morning March 4 burglary of a Hosanna Lutheran Church in Forest Lake.

According to police, someone broke into the church, 9300 Scandia Trail N., and stole four microphones worth $175 each, as well as about $100 in cash from a donation jar. An alarm was triggered in the early morning but no suspects have been arrested yet.

Terry Traver

Scandia Reporter

A recognition ceremony was held during the Feb. 16 Scandia City Council meeting for retiring firefighters Erich Kertzscher and Debbie Peterson. Both retirements were effective Jan. 31.
Mayor Randall Simonson presented Kertzshcer with a plaque and spoke highly of the firefighter’s service to Scandia during his 26 years with the department.

“You are a model citizen, and I am proud to know you,” Simonson told Kertzscher.

Along with fighting fires, Kertzscher also served in the roles of training captain, dive team leader and rescue captain.

“He has made the rescue department what it is today,” Simonson added.

Peterson was not present at the ceremony, but she also received a plaque in recognition of her service to the community. One of Peterson’s responsibilities was safety training officer.

“It is people like her that make it all worthwhile,” Simonson said.

The council also gave certificates of appreciation to volunteers Jan Hogle for serving one five-year term on the Planning Commission, Alex Bildeaux Jr. for serving two five-year terms on the Parks and Recreation Committee and Matt Rasmussen for also serving two five-year terms on the Parks and Recreation Committee.

Pollinator friendly

After discussion during the council’s Feb. 3 work session, the council asked to learn more about the cost of publishing progress updates should the city move forward with a citizen request to become a pollinator-friendly city (learn more in the Feb. 11 story “Pollination station?”). One item of the resolution draft asked that the city publish an annual Pollinator-Friendly City progress report. Simonson was concerned about creating additional work responsibilities for the city staff, but City Administrator Neil Soltis said he would work on an acceptable resolution before the next meeting. On Feb. 16, language in the resolution regarding an annual report prepared by the city was replaced with, “The City of Scandia will endeavor to communicate to the public its efforts to enhance habitat for pollinators.” The resolution was unanimously adopted by the council.

Solar power agreement

Novel Energy Solutions has been installing solar panels on the roof of the fire hall and public works building at no cost to the city. About half of the panels have been installed, but the city has not officially entered into a contract agreement with Novel yet, which would allow the city to get a 15 percent discount on power at the building. This agreement was first discussed at the Aug. 18, 2015, council meeting. Novel has sent the city an agreement for approval. The agreement to keep the panels on the roof is for 20 years, with the city having the option of purchasing the system at the sixth year, 10th year or at the end of the contract. The city could also extend the agreement for two additional five-year periods. The council adopted the agreement unanimously.

Log House Landing

The Log House Landing Ramp project is moving forward with a decision made by the council to use Northern Technologies Inc. for the geotechnical services needed to begin work on improvements to the site’s boat ramp, which would work to reduce erosion and run-off into the St. Croix River. City Engineer Ryan Goodman recommended using NTI, whose bid for the project was the lowest at $2,250. According to a recommendation letter sent to the mayor and council from Goodman, the work will consist of completing soil borings to collect representative soil samples, analyzing the subsurface soil and groundwater conditions and prepare a geotechnical engineering report that will be used to facilitate the design of the improvements.

The idea of improving the ramp began when the Carnelian-Marine-St. Croix Watershed Administrator Jim Shaver came to the council in November 2015 with a concept plan for a joint project with Scandia to make improvements to the ramp. The estimated cost is around $40,000, to be split evenly between CARMAR and Scandia. The National Park Service will donate $15,000 toward the cost.

Submitted photo
A Scandia firefighter team participated in the Fight For Air Climb Feb. 27 at the U.S. Bank Plaza in Minneapolis. In full turnout gear, six firefighters climbed 31 stories to raise money for those affected by lung disease. Pictured are Dave Mead, John Hagen, Travis Loeffler, Josh Pearl, Erich Kertzscher, and Aaron Sipola.

A little over a year ago, Bruce Wightman logged his last day as Forest Lake’s lone fire inspector. The city hasn’t had an inspector since.

Wightman, who remains a paid on-call firefighter with the department, was a full-time employee who performed fire inspections and helped out with building inspections in the city. Under the city’s joint powers fire agreement, Wightman also performed fire inspections for Columbus, and the city of Scandia contracted with Forest Lake for Wightman to conduct building inspections there. The fire chief at the time, Gary Sigfrinius, told The Forest Lake Times in November 2014 that his research into communities of similar size as Forest Lake suggested that the city should have the equivalent of 2.5 full-time positions conducting inspections (for more information, read The Times’ Dec. 4, 2014, story, “Fire chief believes inspector job is essential,” or read the story online at tinyurl.com/gskqe58).

When The Times spoke with Sigfrinius on this topic, the Forest Lake City Council was considering cutting Wightman’s salary and benefits from its 2015 budget. On Dec. 15, 2014, its final meeting of the year, the council voted 3-2 to finalize the $75,000 reduction, laying off Wightman effective at the end of the year. At the time, some council members speculated that the city would find alternative means to accomplish fire inspections, perhaps dividing the duties among other staff members.

However, when it comes to routine fire inspections that would have been done by the city fire inspector, Fire Chief Alan Newman said that nothing has been done since the layoff. The fact of the matter, he said, is that there’s simply no time.

“I’m the only full-time (fire) staff,” he said, adding that he’s frequently working late into the night on other fire duties. “All the other members are paid on-call. They’ve got jobs.”

Though the routine inspections of existing buildings that Wightman was doing are no longer being done, that doesn’t mean that no fire inspections have been done at all in the city over the last 13 months. Some large facilities, like schools, and state-regulated facilities, like day care centers, are inspected by a state fire marshal. New buildings in the city are also covered, as they are inspected for fire safety and other code compliance by building inspector Chad Payment. If a building is adding a new feature that might relate to fire safety, it, too, is inspected by the proper authority (depending on the change, either Payment, the state or, if the state is behind, a contracted inspector).

“Where we feel the loss of the fire inspector is just on the normal everyday, going out and doing fire inspections on (businesses and) apartment buildings,” Newman said.

The chief explained that on routine inspections, a fire inspector is looking for circumstances that have changed or situations that have developed that could create a fire hazard. These circumstances aren’t ones that would require a building inspection; they could just be a business that forgot to cap a gas line, an apartment that hasn’t checked its illuminated exit lights, a manufacturer that unknowingly is storing a dangerous amount of a chemical or a facility that has allowed flammable garbage to build up near electrical circuitry.

“My whole fire response is based on fire code, so if we go to a commercial building, I expect if I see doors from the outside that those doors aren’t going to be chained, that they don’t have a steel bar in front of those doors and that there won’t be tables or boxes in front of them,” Newman explained.

A fire inspector checks for these kinds of violations and more. In his 2014 interview with The Times, Wightman spoke of catching violations as strange as a business accidentally dry-walling over an emergency exit, a large building with no fire alarm installed, and a plating establishment that was storing unsafe quantities of poisonous chemicals. Much of the time, he said, the violations are unintentional, but a fire inspection can make sure that a building isn’t accidentally unsafe.

The fire inspector is also responsible for preplanning in case fires break out in tricky buildings around town. He or she would keep contact information up to date and develop plans that account for structures that have unforeseen dangers to firefighters. Wightman used to offer trainings for firefighters to brief them on some of the more complicated buildings around town.

“We would talk about tactics or if we had a fire in this facility, what would we do,” Newman said.

City perspectives

Councilman Ben Winnick, who was one of the three council members (along with Ben Winnick and Richard Weber) who voted to lay off Wightman, said that ideally, the city could find someone within its current infrastructure to fulfill inspector duties.

“I do believe we have a well-qualified chief or other people in the department who can be doing fire inspections,” he said.

However, he said the city’s flexibility to take new action on the fire inspector duties is hampered by the labor policy that would require the city to offer the job back to Wightman if it reinstates the position within a couple of years of the layoff. What’s more, Winnick said, he wondered if the city would face liability issues if something went awry in a building shortly after an inspection – in other words, “if we do a fire inspection and we miss something and the building burns down, or, God forbid, someone is hurt or killed and a few weeks earlier we went through and said it was safe.”

He also said he wondered about whether fire inspections – or inspections that served similar purposes – were really the role of the city government and whether or not they could be handled by a private contractor or an insurance company.

Mayor Stev Stegner was not on the council when Wightman was laid off – he had been elected but would not take office until the following month – but he was on the council in 2006, when the city hired its first full-time fire inspector, Matt Kohner.

“He was actually really well received by the business owners,” Stegner said of Kohner. “I think it really worked out well.”

At the time, Stegner said they hoped for pay for a large chunk of Kohner’s salary in fees collected from his services, but that source of income never materialized. Still, he said, Kohner’s hiring was a good one and a way to check into safety hazards in the businesses around town. Stegner believed all of the eligible buildings in town had been inspected at least once, but Newman said that he did not believe that to be the case, stating that not all, but “at least” 75 percent of the buildings had been visited since 2006.

Stegner also said that Wightman’s position may have also become more expensive because Columbus was considering other fire inspection services, which would leave Forest Lake as the sole contributor to Wightman’s salary, but Columbus City Administrator Elizabeth Mursko said her city was prepared to stick with Wightman under the joint powers agreement until Forest Lake decided to cut his job. Other than new buildings, where inspections are being covered by the city’s building inspector, there have been no ongoing fire inspections in Columbus since the inspector job was cut. However, Mursko said Wightman had completed a full round of inspections on Columbus’s businesses by 2014, which she said has made the city feel more secure about waiting a little while before another fire inspector makes the rounds.

“We had a little time,” she said.

Different approaches

Every city treats fire inspections differently. Like neighbors Columbus and Forest Lake, Wyoming also does not conduct routine fire inspections of existing structures, though Fire Chief J.J. Hastings said he would prefer that the city did.

“The fire industry doesn’t do a very good job of doing these inspections,” he said.

Until recently, Hastings noted, one Wyoming firefighter with inspector training was doing fire inspections part-time, but after he left, the inspections stopped. To start conducting them again would require additional fire department funding, not only to reimburse an inspector, but to train one. Still, he thinks an inspector would help.

“The purpose of a fire inspection is … to make sure that the building is being maintained so a fire hazard is not being created,” he said. “Every time I go into a building as a fire chief, I’m looking for those (potential hazards), and I can almost always catch safety-related issues.”

It’s hard to find a city to directly compare to Forest Lake. While Wyoming has a comparable number of inspectable buildings – Hastings said the city has about 300 qualifying commercial buildings, while Newman said the inspectable commercial and residential structures in Forest Lake is just under 400 – the city is much smaller than Forest Lake in area and population, prompting different concerns and logistics in inspections.

When The Forest Lake Times reached out to a number of fire inspectors and departments in the north and east metropolitan area, it found multiple approaches to inspections. In Oakdale – which has a city-run ambulance service in addition to a fire department – eight employees, who double as firefighters and paramedics, also handle routine fire inspections, conducting an inspection of each business in the city every year.

“There’s no question that when we started doing these commercial inspections, our commercial (fire-related) incidents went way down,” Oakdale Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Wald said. “When we first started this, it was terrible because we found so many violations.”

Blaine is part of a joint fire department that also covers Spring Lake Park and Mounds View, but each city handles its own fire inspections separately. Eight full-time inspectors handle Blaine’s inspections, conducting one for each inspectable building every three years, along with about 240 annual inspections for buildings deemed to be higher risk because of their use. When it comes time for a business to be inspected, said Fire Marshal Bob Fiske, the city will send a letter notifying the business and suggesting that the owner or manager could check to see if the building has some of the most common violations for a structure of its type – a sort of “pre-inspection” that reduces violations and headaches when the fire inspector actually arrives.

But the inspection models of Oakdale and Blaine require significantly more resources to implement than Forest Lake has spent on inspections, and their larger staffs are reflective of a much larger business community. Oakdale has about 600 eligible buildings to inspect, while Blaine has around 1,600 commercial properties alone.

Until the city changes its funding or position about fire inspections in Forest Lake, Newman is content to work on fire prevention and mitigation in any way available to the department. With the recent installation of iPads in city fire trucks, firefighters can access the building plan reviews it does have on the fly, as well as information about where firefighters are at a fire scene and contact information for building owners. However, Newman said that routine inspections are key to the safety process.

“People just don’t think about fire safety until there’s a fire.”

Eric Joseph Vacko, 35, and Brittany Ann Vacko, 26, of Forest Lake, were sentenced March 17 to pay $150,000 in restitution to various government agencies and spend 180 days in jail.
The sentences came down from Ramsey County Court about a month after they filed Alford pleas on charges that they defrauded the government, meaning that they didn’t admit guilt but acknowledged that enough evidence existed to convict them.

Court records state that the Vackos first applied for government assistance in 2011 while living with a relative in St. Paul. They later moved to multiple other locations, including Forest Lake and Isanti County, and worked in a variety of business ventures, all the while still claiming unemployment and Ramsey County residency.

They also claimed that Eric was a college student and that Brittany needed to stay home to care for the couple’s son. In all, the couple is believed to have defrauded about $115,000 from the government.

Assault

A 46-year-old Coon Rapids man was arrested on March 19 after he allegedly punched an employee at the Forest Lake Wal-Mart.

According to police reports, the assault was called in around 2:30 p.m. A trio of people had entered the Wal-Mart and were being monitored by a loss prevention specialist. According to the specialist, who is 20, he was confronted by one of the trio and was punched in the throat.

Police later located the alleged assailant, David Douglas Tode Jr., at the Forest Lake Target. He reportedly claimed self defense and added that the employee was making one of his companions uncomfortable. While police were interviewing him, they learned that he had an arrest warrant in Hennepin County for check fraud.

Theft

Police are investigating the theft of a trailer and an all-terrain vehicle from a driveway in the 20400 block of July Avenue North in Forest Lake. The theft report came in on March 14, and the theft is believed to have occurred March 12.

The trailer is a flatbed black metal trailer with an Iowa license plate with an unknown number. The ATV is a 2005 Honda Rubicon with an Iowa sticker.

A 73-year-old man drowned in Forest Lake on March 27 after falling into a pond. His name has not yet been officially released by law enforcement, but multiple acquaintances of the man and his family have identified him as Ron Weiss, of Forest Lake.

According to Forest Lake police, a 911 call regarding the man came in around 7 p.m. Easter Sunday. Officers responded to the 6400 block of Appaloosa Avenue North and found a man who had been working in the yard of a home on the road before falling into a pond in the back yard. It is not known if he simply fell in or whether the fall was preceded by a medical issue. Weiss was unconscious when he was pulled from the pond. Officers and ambulance personnel attempted to revive him on the scene, and he was ultimately transported to Regions Hospital in St. Paul, but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Weiss served in the Army Signal Corps from 1961 through early 1964, including an assignment communicating from Florida to the Pentagon during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was also an active member and past commander of the Forest Lake post of the American Legion. In 2013, the Forest Lake Times ran an article about Weiss’s Army career during the tumultuous early 1960s. It is available online here.

Funeral details have not yet been finalized.

Drivers in Forest Lake will notice a traffic change that occurred this week as a local road project began its next stage.

On U.S. Highway 61 between 202nd Street and the north intersection of Trunk Highway 97, all traffic has been routed to the northbound (east) lanes, with north and southbound motorists each getting one lane each. The southbound lanes are being temporarily closed as part of the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s project to install two roundabouts at the intersections of 61 and 97. The projects are scheduled for completion in August. The Times is publishing a more in-depth look at local road work in an upcoming issue.

Lauren Mason Grove Lynch, the Forest Lake man who was arrested in the slaying of his girlfriend last fall, pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder on April 1.

Lynch, who turns 28 on March 8, was taken into custody Sept. 11, 2015, in his apartment on 956 12th St. SW after a neighbor called police around 8 p.m. and complained about a terrible smell coming from one of the units. According to court records, police responded to the apartment complex and determined which apartment the smell was coming from. After multiple attempts to get someone in the apartment to answer the door, police obtained a key from the apartment manager and opened the door to do a welfare check, only to discover that the door had been blocked by a chair. After police conversed with a man inside, later identified as Lynch, he ultimately came out of the apartment, offered up his hands to be cuffed and reportedly said, “She’s inside.”

Police entered the apartment and found the remains of Lynch’s girlfriend, Grace Ann Vannorman, 36, lying on a couch in the apartment. Police later confirmed that the body’s decomposition was the source of the bad smell. Lynch was arrested and later confessed to police that he’d gotten into an argument with Vannorman, who also lived in the apartment, on Sept. 8, three days before he was arrested. The argument ended when he held a pillow over her face and suffocated her, he said, adding that he later stabbed her in the neck with a kitchen knife. An autopsy determined suffocation to be her cause of death.

Lynch said he’d stayed with Vannorman’s body from the time he’d killed her through the time he’d been arrested.

Lynch will be sentenced Aug. 5. In a letter to the Forest Lake Police Department, Assistant County Attorney Jessica L. Stott wrote that the plea agreement with Lynch calls for him to serve approximately 30 years and seven months in prison.

The letter also thanks the police department for a professional investigation that led to a solid case against Lynch. Stott singled out Sgt. Kurt Kowarsch and Detective Scott Graff for their preservation of the crime scene and thorough follow-up investigation, respectively.

Forest Lake police officer Nick Kent and his K-9 partner Ranger have earned Case of the Quarter honors for the fourth quarter of 2015 in Region 18 of the United States Police Canine Association.
Cases are submitted to a board and voted on by the same board. Potential cases of the quarter are submitted by other officers and K-9 handlers.

The following is the transcript of the Kent-Ranger case.

On Oct. 31, 2015, the Forest Lake Police Department received a call of an unwanted male at a residence. The unwanted male was identified by the complainant and was found to be a suspect wanted by the Eagan Police Department for a shooting resulting in a first-degree assault warrant being issued for him.

Prior to officers arriving on scene, the male had left north from the residence. Officers were advised by a resident in the area that a male had jumped a fence that separated the interstate from the rest area. The resident gave the description of the male that she saw to officers, which matched the description of the suspect. The resident said that she thought the male went into some tall cattails under an overpass.

Kent and Ranger responded to the area to search for the suspect. It was unknown at this time if the suspect was armed, but he was to be considered armed and dangerous. At this time, Kent deployed Ranger on lead to search for the suspect working southbound in the west ditch of the interstate.

As Kent and Ranger searched the area, Ranger made a distinct head snap to the right and immediately went into the cattails that were in the ditch. Ranger then made a circle in the cattails and then worked through the cattails, exiting north of where he initially entered. After exiting the cattails, Ranger worked back south and again entered the cattails and stopped. At this point Kent could hear that Ranger had made an apprehension.

Commands were given to the suspect and Ranger was removed from the apprehension and the suspect was taken into custody. The suspect was transported to jail on his felony first degree assault warrant after being treated at a local hospital.

Kent has been with the Forest Lake Police Department for 10 years and was joined by Ranger in March 2010. Kent said that it has always been his goal to work with a K-9 partner and that Ranger is one of the best.

“He has always does every single thing I have asked of him,” Kent said. “Also, there have been multiple times when Ranger has saved my butt out in the field.”

Kent was very surprised by his receipt of the Case of the Quarter award and shares credit not only with Ranger but also with all of the other officers on scene that night that made it possible for them to secure the takedown.

“They only give four of these awards per year and our region includes St. Paul and some of the other larger metro departments,” Kent said. “I was surprised that we got the award, but I am proud of the work that was done on the case by everyone involved.”

A Forest Lake man recently appeared in Washington County court on charges that he endangered his 3-week-old son.

According to court records, Joshua Wayne Thorson, 25, was charged March 24 with one count of child endangerment and one count of child neglect. A relative of Thorson’s was at Thorson’s apartment on the 900 block of Eighth Street Southwest on Nov. 26, 2015, and called police, alleging that Thorson was intoxicated and unable to properly care for his infant son. The relative said that Thorson had become angry with him, striking and pushing him and causing him to fall on top of the infant, who was lying on a couch; when interviewed by police, the relative allegedly had injuries consistent with assault.

When police visited the apartment to speak to Thorson, he was allegedly so intoxicated that he could not walk. Officers entered the apartment and reportedly found several pieces of drug paraphernalia on the floor and other parts of the apartment – the criminal complaint describes the home’s contents in general as being in “extreme disarray”. They allegedly found the infant lying on a bed, wearing a onesie that was stained with what appeared to be dried blood and only partially zipped.

The infant was immediately taken to the emergency room and later underwent further medical testing. According to court records, medical personnel believed that the child might not have been fed or changed recently, and further testing diagnosed the child with “non-accidental trauma.”

Drug sentencing

A man with no permanent address who was arrested by Forest Lake police in 2014 was sentenced to at least six years and nine months in prison for a drug crime.

Forest Lake officers picked up David Alan Johnson, 45, on Sept. 9, 2014, and he was sentenced in relation to the arrest on March 9 of this year and given credit for 315 days already served in jail. According to court records, Johnson was arrested after a witness called police to report that a man was attempting to break into vehicles in the Wal-Mart parking lot shortly after 4 p.m. When officers arrived, they located Johnson, who claimed that a vehicle he was breaking into was his own – a claim quickly disproved by the vehicle’s registered owner. During Johnson’s arrest, he was searched, and officers found about more than 13 grams of methamphetamine and a digital scale on his person.

The following are other recent Washington County court cases related to the Forest Lake area:

• Brandon Robert Peterson, 36, of Forest Lake, was charged Feb. 4 with domestic assault.
• Regina Marie Winter, 44, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Feb. 10 for a second-degree drug crime.
• Justina Lee Edlund, 31, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Feb. 11 for aiding and abetting a drug crime.
• Andrew Richard Servaty, 30, of no permanent address, was charged Feb. 18 with a fifth-degree drug crime in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• David Joseph Andrle, 31, of Forest Lake, was charged Feb. 18 with two counts of being a predatory offender who knowingly violated his registration requirements.
• Artevis Dewayen Glaze, 38, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Feb. 22 for criminal vehicular operation.
• Ayman Abdul Tel, 36, of Forest Lake, was sentenced Feb. 24 for domestic assault.
• Alicia Joellen Kampf, 43, of Forest Lake, was charged Feb. 25 with a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Simon Vicente-Santiago, 31, of Forest Lake, was charged Feb. 25 for making terroristic threats and a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Troy Paris Payton, 19, of Anoka, was sentenced March 1 with first-degree property damage in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Joseph Michael Bloomquist, 27, of Forest Lake, was sentenced March 3 for a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Samantha Rose Deason, 22, of Forest Lake, was charged March 3 with two counts of child neglect.
• Justin Mitchel Scanlon, 28, of Forest Lake, was charged March 7 with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and DWI.
• Matthew James Metcalf, 32, of no permanent address, was charged March 9 with violating a no-contact order in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Mee Xiong, 31, of Minneapolis, was sentenced March 11 for identity theft in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Ross Lynn Tappe, 54, of Champlin, was charged March 16 with issuing a dishonored check in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• Sara Lynne Angell, 30, of Forest Lake, was sentenced March 14 for a fifth-degree drug crime.
• Robert James Thurston, 43, of no permanent address, was sentenced March 14 for theft by swindle in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.
• David Michael Cline, 46, of St. Paul, was sentenced March 21 for theft in connection with a case investigated by the Forest Lake Police Department.

Firefighters responded to a small fire at the Autumn Hills Apartments on April 10. They arrived at 706 12th St. Southwest around 2:30 p.m. and left about an hour later.

According to the Forest Lake Fire Department, a small fire started on a second-story deck (the cause of the fire is not known at press time). The fire spread to some siding on the apartment and rose to siding on the third floor, but a person on the scene sprayed the fire with a fire extinguisher and put it out before more damage could be done. Firefighters ventilated the apartment and checked the interior of the building for additional fires and damage before determining that the fire was extinguished.

Jonathan Young
Stillwater Gazette

Deputy Chris Majeski gave a command, and police-dog-in-training Otis sprang into action at the Washington County Fairgrounds March 18. With a sudden burst of power, the 1-year-old Belgian Malinois leapt the wooden barrier in front of him.

As Majeski ran alongside holding his leash, Otis proceeded to clear the next two hurdles, one at a time, but he “begged off” the last hurdle. He had to go back to the beginning and try again — this time, Otis cleared all four and was rewarded with a toy and praise.

“Good boy,” Majeski said.

The Washington County Sheriff’s office recently imported Otis from Slovakia. He’s been training since March 6, along with two other Belgian Malinois — Beck and Akicita.

Akacita is being trained with Officer Ole Mark for the Prairie Island Indian Community’s police department. Otis will replace a Washington County K-9 that retired. The 2-and-a-half-year-old Beck is being retrained with Washington County Deputy Steve Bell, after Beck’s former partner, Ty Jacobson, was promoted to sergeant.

Jacobson, a certified United States Police Canine Association instructor, oversees the training.

“We’re pushing the dogs pretty hard, but it’s all fun for them,” Jacobson said. “We’re shaping their behaviors through positive reinforcement.”

That contrasts with older methods that relied more on dominance.

“You don’t get as quality of a dog when you train with those older methods,” Jacobson said.

Jacobson’s current class will graduate in June.

“Essentially we take an untrained dog, and we make them ready to work the street as a police dog in three months,” Jacobson said.

In addition to the hurdles, the dogs had to face other obstacles March 18, such as a low tunnel that forced them to crawl, and a tall, skinny catwalk that the younger dogs were obviously nervous to walk on — deputies had to prevent them from jumping down and had to coax them to stand up.

In addition to the agility work, the dogs receive training in obedience, recognizing human odors, searching buildings, tracking suspects, sniffing for drugs, biting in a controlled manner and more. It’s also important for the dogs and their handlers to build a relationship and work together well.

The county has been training its own K-9 units since 2008, which puts them in a small group of law enforcement agencies that offer training in the metro.

Jacobson said in-house training means classes are smaller, and there’s more one-on-one time. It also allows the handlers to stay home, which means they can train four hours a day and patrol four hours.

“If we have to send them to an outside school they’re gone for three months completely,” Jacobson said. Plus, the dogs would need a month of outside narcotics training when they returned, but the county can do all its own training in three months.

In-house training also lets the county select animals that meet its needs.

“When we do it ourselves, we have the ability to choose a dog for ourselves and choose a dog for our agency, how we see fit,” Jacobson said. Departments that go elsewhere for training are often simply assigned a dog.

Jacobson chooses all the animals the sheriff’s office purchases. If they’re being imported, he watches videos to evaluate their behavior before making a decision.

“What I’m looking for is a specific type of behavior and specific drives,” he said.

Dogs can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $8,500 each, depending on the quality and the seller, Jacobson said. But the sheriff’s office believes the expense is worth it.

“These dogs are phenomenal,” Jacobson said. “They do so much for us.”

In addition to work like tracking and drug sniffing, dogs help protect human lives by going into potentially dangerous situations ahead of deputies.

“The dogs are a great partner to have,” Jacobson said.

A Columbus man who last made headlines after he videotaped boys in the locker room of the Andover YMCA in 2013 is moving to a home near the intersection of 176th Lane Northeast and Notre Dame Street Northeast in Columbus. The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office will hold an informational meeting on Tuesday, May 3, related to Christopher Michael Bradshaw, 50, now classified as a risk level 3 sex offender.

Level 3 sex offenders are deemed more likely to reoffend than offenders ranked level 2 or 1. When a level 3 offender moves to a community, the local law enforcement agency holds an informational meeting to answer residents’ questions. Bradshaw is not wanted by law enforcement but must abide by the terms of his sentence.

In 2013, Bradshaw was convicted for two felony counts of interfering with the privacy of a minor. According to court records, Bradshaw brought two boys to the Andover YMCA and filmed them in various states of undress. After the video was discovered by law enforcement, investigators reportedly found hundreds of images of child pornography in Bradshaw’s home.

In 1997, he was convicted for first-degree sexual conduct with a victim under the age of 13 in Hennepin County.

The public informational meeting about Bradshaw is being held at 5 p.m. May 3 at Columbus City Hall.

Submitted photos
One former and one current Forest Lake police officer were recently honored for their work in the community. Officer Max Boukal (pictured with Police Chief Rick Peterson) was honored recently at this year’s Mothers Against Drunk Driving Statewide Recognition Awards Ceremony for his work keeping drunken drivers off the road. Though Boukal now works for the city of Woodbury after being laid off from Forest Lake at the end of last year, in 2015 he made 33 DUI or DWI arrests in Forest Lake.

Officer Ashley LaValle was given the Lakes Area Youth Service Bureau’s 2015 James Trudeau Law Enforcement Award, which is awarded each year to an officer whose dedication to his or her job helps bridge the gap between youth and adults. LaValle is currently a patrol officer but worked in 2015 as a detective assigned to the crime prevention and community policing units. Learn more about the reasons behind LaValle’s award at tinyurl.com/zrc52l8.