Kelliher Council Hears Complaints Regarding Law Enforcement Issues

Blackduck American

The Kelliher City Council met in the council chambers at city hall for its regular meeting Sept. 8.

Mayor Darin Latterell called the meeting to order with council members Laura Nelson, Victoria Rabe and Don Erickson present. Council Member Ramona Gehlert arrived later in the meeting.

Also present were staff members City Clerk Dianna Thurlow and Assistant City Clerk Peggy Vollhaber. Others present included Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp, Deputy Scott Wherley, Tina and Wade Rennemo, Lori and Ross Rennemo, Glen and Carey Grundmeier, Rick and Mary Thayer, Dorothy Schuh and her minor children and Wally Rennemo.

Complaints were addressed to the council, Sheriff Hodapp and Deputy Wherley regarding increasing levels of brazen reckless driving and loud exhausts on ATVs, motorcycles and motor vehicles.

It was the overall consensus of the guests in attendance and the council that there is a need for greater law enforcement presence in the Kelliher area to curb such activities, especially in consideration of a recent incident that escalated to violence against a citizen.

It was also emphasized that this was important in consideration of the past monies taken from the PILT fund to specifically provide for a deputy for the north half of the county.

Deputy Wherley responded by informing the audience that he and another deputy spend significant time in the area, although not all of it is directly in Kelliher, as they have to patrol the other communities in northern Beltrami County as well, so even though they may not always be visible, they are active in the area.

Sheriff Hodapp encouraged the public to contact the Sheriff’s Department directly with complaints and that individuals calling must be willing to sign a complaint ticket.

Several members of the audience asked what to do about threats or retaliation, citing the most recent incident and Sheriff Hodapp responded that the Sheriff’s Department should be contacted immediately and notified of the details of any threats or retaliation in response to making or signing a complaint.

Further questions were posed as to the use of warnings rather than citations, with Deputy Wherley’s response being that everyone needs to be treated the same and that warnings have been given in the past but that citations will be issued going forward if that was what the public desired.

The council felt that these incidents were obviously the result of a few individuals and that it would be unfortunate for the more minor transgressors to be cited, but that increased citations were needed to correct the undesirable behaviors.

Deputy Wherley explained his frustrations from the past, where he arrives in the area after a complaint and the activity has ceased and parties are unwilling to sign a complaint ticket.

Hodapp and Wherley reemphasized the need for citizens to contact the Sheriff’s Department directly and that citizens must be willing to sign complaint tickets, as law enforcement cannot file charges if they do not witness the activity first hand unless they have a signed complaint. This is especially significant in consideration of the fact that warnings have not appeared to suffice in the past.

Hodapp added that the area generally exhibits low call volumes and that a greater presence is only warranted by evidence of a greater need (higher complaint call volumes).

The open forum was closed with the council thanking Sheriff Hodapp, Deputy Wherley and the guests for attending. Hodapp, in turn, thanked the council and the community members present for bringing these matters to his attention and for giving him and Deputy Wherley the opportunity to discuss these matters with the public.

Beltrami County Board Briefed on Narcotics Enforcement

Bemidji Pioneer

Commander Gary Pederson described for Beltrami County Board members Tuesday the Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force activities for the past year.

Pederson was accompanied during Tuesday’s County Board work session by Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp, Deputy Rob Billings and Administrative Assistant Shannon Trepanier. Pederson said he is satisfied with the results the Beltrami County Attorney’s office has achieved with prison sentences ranging from 33-133 months for criminals convicted of selling methamphetamine and other illegal drugs in and around Bemidji.

Besides the work in narcotics enforcement, Pederson cited other situations in which Task Force members have assisted law enforcement. He said they worked with the Gang Strike Force with wire tapping, helped Mahnomen law enforcement during the siege and shooting of Mahnomen County Deputy Chris Dewey, sandbagged during spring flooding, searched in June for a missing Blackduck child, who was later found safe, and assisted during the search for victims of the July Blackduck Lake boating accident.

The Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force is comprised of officers from the counties of Beltrami, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen and Roseau, the city of Bemidji and the Leech Lake and White Earth Bands of Ojibwe. It also works with the federal Safe Trails Task Force.

Pederson listed the following statistics for the past year:

• 56 arrests for felonies and misdemeanors.
• 36 search warrants executed for controlled substance cases.
• 60 undercover drug buys.
• 17 presentations by Task Force officers to civic organizations.
• 56 assists to other law enforcement agencies outside the area.
• Six federal indictments for drug offenses.
• 115 grams of crack cocaine seized.
• 19 ounces of powder cocaine seized.
• 104 ounces of methamphetamine seized.
• 871 ounces of marijuana seized.
• 338 marijuana plants seized.
• Seven firearms seized.

Pederson also addressed the greater scrutiny he expects the Task Force to face following the investigation of the Metro Gang Strike Force for failing to follow guidelines. He said he expects forfeit and seizure rules will become more stringent and the 20 state task forces to experience more oversight. He said the Paul Bunyan Drug Task Force has zero accounting or forfeiture discrepancies.

Beltrami County Jail Escapee Captured

Bemidji Pioneer

Gerald Browneagle

After a daylong manhunt Saturday to find a Cass Lake man who escaped from the Beltrami County Jail, authorities captured him without incident in Bemidji.

Gerald Joseph Browneagle, 31, escaped from a minimum security area about 8:45 a.m., said Beltrami County Sheriff Phil Hodapp.

Browneagle has been held at the jail since March 30 on criminal sexual conduct charges, Hodapp said in a statement. He had been returned from North Dakota where he was a fugitive Level III predatory sexual offender.

“He was being held temporarily in the minimum security unit for the weekend and managed to escape through an open door while the corrections officer on duty, in that area, was distracted,” Hodapp said. “Upon jail staff discovering the escape, Beltrami County Dispatch and officers were notified, as well as Cass County and other agencies, and the search began.”

Authorities tracked leads and information regarding Browneagle’s whereabouts, he said.

“Browneagle was located hiding in a residence in south Bemidji where he was taken into custody at approximately 6 p.m.,” the sheriff said. “A second individual was also arrested with Browneagle and jailed on charges of harboring a fugitive.”

Browneagle escaped wearing a blue jail jumpsuit and sandals. He is an American Indian, 6-foot-1, 317 pounds, with a tattoo “Negoni” on the right side of his neck and another tattoo on his left arm that includes the word “RIP.”

Browneagle is from the Cass Lake area, Hodapp said.

In August 2008, Browneagle was arrested in North Dakota by the FBI Fugitive Task Force under a felony warrant for failure to register as a sex offender in Hennepin County and a misdemeanor probation violation warrant in Cass County, records show.

Browneagle is also a suspect in a sexual assault in March 2008 of a 12-year-old girl in Bemidji. Warrants were issued for first-degree criminal sexual conduct and failure to register as a sex offender, records show.

In 1995, Browneagle was convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct-personal injury, stranger, 13-15, female, for raping a 15-yearold girl who was unknown to him Jan. 29, 1994, in an alley, records show. He was sentenced in Hennepin County and began serving the sentence in July 1995. On Jan. 12, 2006, he began serving a sentence for third-degee assault for assaulting a woman he knew by forcibly trying to take her car keys in September 2003 in Minneapolis, The woman later received treatment for a fractured wrist. Browneagle was sentenced in Hennepin County.

In April 2006, Browneagle also began serving a sentence for another crime — failure to register as a predatory offender in Anoka County. His most recent conviction expired in January 2007.

Hodapp said members of the Sheriff’s Office worked with special agents of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Bemidji police officers and Headwaters Safe Trails/Paul Bunyan Task Force officers in apprehending Browneagle.