Dakota County

Dakota County judge reprimanded for making sexual jokes in courtroom

If I were a courts reporter, I'd want to cover whatever Dakota County courtroom Judge Richard G. Spicer presides over.SEE ALSO: Judge orders Wisconsin deadbeat dad to use worst pickup line everSpicer sure sounds like a riot, but his humor is a little too much for the Minnesota Board of Judicial Stan ... More >>

Eagan parents allegedly forced son to live in lightless basement, mandated 500 daily pushups

Greg and Angela Danner allegedly made life a living hell for their 15-year-old son -- forcing him to live in a basement with no light, taking his bed and leaving him with just a pillow and blanket, feeding him nothing but peanut butter sandwiches, and making him run numerous miles and do hundreds of ... More >>

Second case of pig-borne flu reported in Minnesota

See also:-- New flu strain acquired through contact with pigs-- State Fair pigs examined, none sent home due to flu concernsMinnesota has recorded its second case of the flu that had State Fair workers examining 250 pigs last week as a precaution.

MNGOP Sen. Dan Hall suggests gay marriage supporters are unpatriotic

SEE ALSO:-- MN Marriage amendment: Majority support one man-one woman definition, says new survey-- MN for Marriage, anti-gay marriage group, says it 'continues to stand strong against intolerance'-- John Kriesel, pro-gay marriage MNGOP Rep., won't seek reelection [VIDEO]Either Dan Hall isn't worrie ... More >>

Thomas Casper of Eagan is arrested, says if he had a gun 'I would do what James Holmes did'

SEE ALSO: Wade Michael Page, Wisconsin Sikh temple shooter: Image circulating [PHOTO]Thomas Casper, 56, says he is a broken man with nothing to lose. Because of that, police are worried he actually intends to follow through on some of the crazy things he said after he was recently arrested.Police, f ... More >>

Dispute over apartment building parking spot leads to butcher-knife brawl, felony charges

MORE DAKOTA COUNTY CRIME:-- Kyle Dague, 23, charged with manslaughter following friend's mysterious shooting death-- Jenna Schultz, 26-year-old student teacher, allegedly sent Simley senior nude photo, sextsParking spots at an apartment building on the 4300 block of 2220th Street in Farmington are a ... More >>

James Stevenson arrested after trying to rob undercover Eagan cop with pellet gun

James Stevenson's one-man crime spree came to an end after he picked the wrong victim to mess with.A little after 9 p.m. last Thursday, police set up a perimeter around the 3300 block of Coachman Road in Eagan following reports of two robberies in the area. No sooner had a plainclothes detective arr ... More >>

Benito Hernandez Romo Jr. allegedly steals car during job interiew

Benito Hernandez Romo Jr. was looking for a job when he stole a car, prosecutors say. Romo was in Apple Valley for a job interview when he took someone else's car for a joyride. According to police, the car's rightful owner parked his car at a train station in Apple Valley just before 7 a.m. Januar ... More >>

Body of newborn girl found in Mississippi River; cops look for links to three other infant deaths

Christina Hope via FlickrCops want to know if four infants found four years apart in the Mississippi have any connection.​An afternoon of boating on the Mississippi River went terribly wrong for one family this week after they discovered a strange object floating in the water. It turned out to be ... More >>

Lotto ticket bought in Minnesota is worth $229 million

​Check your pockets, Minnesota. We have a winner.A Powerball ticket sold in Dakota County came up good last night, and the winner's due a $229 million jackpot. The Minnesota State Lottery says the sum is the biggest ever won in Minnesota. The magic numbers are 11-18-36-41-46 and a Powerball number ... More >>

Michael Andrist busted for driving after injecting bath salts

Michael Andrist looks like he could use a relaxing bath.​Michael Andrist was arrested Sunday for breaking the state's new law against synthetic drugs, and breaking the state's old law against driving like a maniac.Andrist was seen driving down Highway 52, swerving onto the shoulder, down into the ... More >>

Morgan's New World Tavern opens today

Morgan's opens in the Nicollet Inn (formerly Holiday Inn) in Burnsville.​Morgan's New World Tavern opens today in the Nicollet Inn (formerly the Holiday Inn) in Burnsville, replacing the Dakota County Steakhouse and bringing the gastropub concept deeper into the suburbs. As a sister restaura ... More >>

Sarah May Casareto is in drug treatment

Sarah May Casareto's lawyer says she's manned up and gone to treatment.​Former nurse Sarah May Casareto unexpectedly bailed on her court appearance this morning on charges that she stole a patient's pain meds and shot up with them. Since her arrest last week, Casareto has denied stealing the dru ... More >>

German Robles-Garcia's felony kidnapping spree ends badly

Dakota County, Nebraska, SheriffSteal money from Robles-Garcia and he will chase you down.​The Minneapolis man recently sentenced to 50 years in federal prison turns out to be a former Mexicali policeman who used his sleuthing skills in a vengeance kidnapping. German Robles-Garcia, 29, was sentenc ... More >>

Rhonda Arkley jailed after torching house with husband inside [UPDATE]

Rhonda Arkley, fresh from the hospital, is jailed.​After being hospitalized for nearly a month, Rhonda Lee Arkley has finally swapped her hospital bed for a Dakota County jail bunk. She made her first court appearance this morning for charges of arson, fleeing police and assault. Cops say she ... More >>

Leah Ayers free on bail in naked Grady Sizemore hacking case

Leah Ayers is out on bail.​Police say St. Cloud State University student Leah Ayers hacked her way into pictures Grady Sizemore's junk. She's now free on bail while her case works its way through the Dakota County court system. The 19-year-old is said to have used a pilfered ID and password t ... More >>

James Brent Vandusartz, Blake girls hockey coach, in teen boy sex sting

James Brent Vandusartz​James Brent Vandusartz coached the junior varsity girls hockey team at the prestigious Blake School, but Burnsville police say it was a teenage boy who really got the 56-year-old man's attention. The boy, who's described as one of Vandusartz's students, but who apparen ... More >>

Naked Grady Sizemore vs. the St. Cloud State co-ed

Giving "tea bag" a whole new meaning.​Cleveland Indian Grady Sizemore was caught with his pants down on the Internet last year, and a 19-year-old St. Cloud State University student from Apple Valley named Leah M. Ayers may have done the exposing. Sizemore's problems began when he thought it w ... More >>

Timothy Carson sentenced for cop-turned-robber spree

Timothy Carson​Ex-Marine Timothy Carson is an Iraq war veteran, and a former Washington County corrections officer and Minneapolis police SWAT member. Carson is also a convicted bank robber and small-time stick up man. And yesterday he was sentenced the second time for his crime spree earlier ... More >>

Dominick Damond Miller locks son in minivan while he takes in a movie

Dominick Damond Miller likes seeing movies alone -- even if he came with his son.​Moviegoers must have assumed the parents of the small boy in a van outside an Inver Grove Heights movie theater would be back in mere moments. Instead, the kid sat there for two hours. Who says people don't trust ... More >>

Brian Dziubak drops his pants and gets tazed

Photo: OldmaisonBrian D was shocked into submission.​Brian Dziubak socked his wife in the eye, left his pants in a gas station bathroom and ran half-naked down a West St. Paul street the other day. That's pretty shocking behavior, for which the cops brought him down with a Taser.

Michael Frederick Schmidt guilty of infant sex assault

Dakota County Sheriff's Dept.Michael Frederick Schmidt​Michael Frederick Schmidt, the Hastings man charged with badly injuring his baby niece in a sexual assault, was found guilty yesterday in Dakota County Court. If you successfully blocked this story from your memory, here's a quick refresher:

Jason Kohlwey's custodian rounds included photographing little girl's potty break

Jason Kohlwey, creepy photographer​We don't imagine that, when Good Shepherd Lutheran School hired Jason Kohlwey as its custodian, his job description included sneaking photos of little girls using the bathroom. But he's been arrested for doing just that at the Burnsville elementary school. T ... More >>

Raymond Cesmat hangs himself in jail

Cesmat, 42, apparently killed himself​Raymond Cesmat was found dead, hanging from a bed sheet Friday afternoon in the Dakota County jail. Authorities say he was alone in his cell, and was found during a routine check performed on inmates about every 25 minutes. Cesmat was the South St. Paul g ... More >>

Girl uses iPod and Facebook to report assault as it happened

Raymond Ernest Cesmat is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct​While our senators scratch their heads over Facebook privacy and safety worries, a 12-year-old girl from South St. Paul just stepped up to show us adults how to use the technology the right way. She used a ... More >>

Jonas Gerald Grice arrested in Anthony Hartman's car wash shooting death

Jonas Gerald Grice is being held on suspicion of second-degree murder​Anthony Hartman's dad, Dave, said his son was stepping up for a buddy caught in an argument. His mom, Karen, said she wished that maybe he'd been a little less of a hero. Either way, when he was gunned down at the Car Spa ca ... More >>

Tornado warnings up for Twin Cities suburbs [UPDATED]

Image via NOAAFollow the action via some cool interactive maps on the NOAA website here. ​The tornado watch we told you about this morning was upgraded to a warning for Dakota and Goodhue counties this afternoon by the National Weather Service, capping a stinking hot day today. WCCO reported p ... More >>

Brandon Iams kills three in crash and gets six weekends in jail

Photo: Tomy Webster​Shirley Iverson, 71, her daughter, Debra Buhmann, 34, and her granddaughter, Alexis Iverson-Ferkul, 8, are all dead because of a teenage driver named Brandon Iams. The charge against him? Misdemeanor careless driving. The punishment? Six weekends in juvie, 100 hours of ... More >>

Natasha Dahn prompted attack on mentally disabled Justin Hamilton; she's pulled extra 8 years in prison

She's headed for a long stay in adult lockup after threatening the juvenile detention center staff where she was being held.

Ryan Stanley Hurd indicted by Minnesota grand jury on murder charges

Hurd is accused of stabbing his Eagan, Minn. girlfriend more than 100 times and leaving her in a ditch.

Woman admits, and is sentenced for intentionally killing her kid

Patricia Becht pled guilty and was sentenced today for killing her 10-year-old son and trying to kill her 11-year-old daughter.

Oklahoma man arrested after Eagan woman stabbed 109 times

A 19-year-old aspiring pastry chef from Eagan was stabbed 109 times and left in a roadside ditch near Owatonna.

City clerk accused of giving herself another pay raise

A former city clerk for Mendota and Lilydale is accused of cooking the books.

Girl: Can't remember sexual contact with coach

A criminal sexual conduct case involving a girls basketball coach and one of her players is hardly a slam dunk.

Mother being investigated in 10-year-old's death

The South St. Paul Police say the mother of a 10-year-old South St. Paul boy killed Monday is a suspect. The coroner has not revealed how the boy died.

Dad blows .375 after driving from ballpark with son

Baseball is the all-American dad-son sport. Except when dad is driving you home with an alleged blood-alcohol content reading more than 4 times the legal limit.

Letters to the Editor

Readers respond to "Shrink Your Playlist"

Herbal Remedy

Killer weed ravages suburbs, supplies of Cheetos

Crime blotter: isn't that cute?

Crime blotter: divine intervention

Crime blotter: Milwaukee's best

Crime blotter: all talk

Crime blotter: concrete solutions

A Prescription for Mayhem

How shrinking psych wards spell trouble

Katrina Scams Hitting the Twin Cities?

Burnsville couple hit up by phony "hurricane survivor"

Eagan Needs Luxury Homes

Tony Caponi's 60-acre suburban sculpture garden, where he has lived since 1949, could have a future as a permanent art park-- or another housing development

Off Beat

There Goes the Judge

Could a long-simmering tiff over a lawyer's right to dismiss a judge turn into a bench-clearing brawl?

Playing With Fire

Even as they began sifting through the cinders in 1994, police figured they knew who set the Phillips apartment fire that nearly killed two little girls. But arson has a way of destroying all the evidence.

Diversionary Tactics

Exactly how many CMC students are able to break the cycle is unclear, and police and prosecutors say they have their doubts.