Tuesday, July 24, 2012
The office of Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom issued the following statement late last week.
Editor's note: Patch published an aggregated story on July 19 that suggested the St. Paul Crime Lab may not be compliant with best practices and that this noncompliance could have endangered the reliability of drug tests in criminal cases. Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom issued the following statement. ---- In response to the claims being made that the Dakota County Attorney’s Office had prior knowledge of the extent of the problems with the St. Paul Police Department Crime Laboratory, the following is the explanation of the events leading up to the hearings in eight consolidated drug cases in Dakota County conducted during the week of July 16, 2012: In February and March of 2012 the Dakota County Attorney’s Office received extensive…
Monday, July 23, 2012
A witness interviewed by police allegedly said Schwartz bragged about earning six figures while receiving county benefits.
A Burnsville woman accused of swindling an Eagan business for $183,000 now faces additional charges for allegedly defrauding Dakota County of roughly $41,000. Laura Michelle Schwartz faces three felony counts of theft for wrongfully obtaining child care assistance, according to charges filed by the Dakota County Attorney's Office earlier this month. If convicted on a single count, Schwartz could face a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. According to the complaint, Schwartz had been drawing child care paychecks from the county since 2004. In June, 2009, a county financial worker requested an investigation into Schwartz for possible fraud. The case was forwarded to a welfare fraud investigator, who reported that the State …
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Eagan police are investigating the death of the 10-week-old boy, though no charges have yet been filed.
Follow Eagan Patch on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter Eagan police are investigating the death of a 10-week-old infant who allegedly died while in the care of his intoxicated, 46-year-old grandmother. Just after 1 p.m. on July 7, emergency responders were called to a home on the 3600 block of Denmark Avenue in Eagan on reports of an infant in cardiac arrest, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Ramsey County District Court. The boy was blue and cool to the touch when officers arrived at the residence. Resuscitation efforts by Eagan police, Eagan Fire Rescue and Health East Paramedic personnel ultimately failed, the warrant said. Police interviewed the infant's mother, who said she left the boy …
44.826261
-93.159564
3600 Denmark Ave, Eagan, MN
/articles/police-infant-died-while-intoxicated-grandmother-sleeps-nearby
/locations/7432330
Friday, June 29, 2012
The Dakota County Attorney's Office expressed its disappointment with the decision on Thursday. Shawn Sullivan is accused of raping a 14-year-old Bloomington girl in 1994, among other charges.
Follow Eagan Patch on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter After almost 20 years, justice is no closer for the alleged victims of Shawn Sullivan, a man accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in the 1990s and molesting two others. On June 20, a British High Court refused to extradite Sullivan—who holds both U.S. and Irish citizenship—unless prosecuting attorneys waived the possibility of enrolling Sullivan in Minnesota's sex offender program. British Judges Alan Moses and David Eady said they would have extradited Sullivan, now 43, were it not for Minnesota's "draconian" sex offender program, according to an Associated Press report published in the Washington Post. Sullivan is charged with two counts of second-…
Friday, June 15, 2012
A Nov. 5 trial date has been set for Steven Ohara Wilson, 52, who faces three separate criminal charges.
An Eagan father who allegedly punched his son following a basketball game has pleaded not guilty to three separate criminal charges. Steven Ohara Wilson, 52, was originally charged in December with one count of misdemeanor domestic assault after allegedly holding his son's head with one arm while using the other arm to punch him after the boy's eighth-grade team lost in a basketball tournament at Lakeville High School. But later that month, the Dakota County Attorney's Office also charged Wilson with one count of malicious punishment of a child and one count of neglect of a child, both gross misdemeanors. If convicted of either new charge, Wilson could face a maximum of one year in jail and a $3,000 fine. Witnesses interviewed by police …
Monday, April 9, 2012
Scott Thomas Hainey is charged with terroristic threats as the result of a hostile phone conversation.
An Eagan man faces charges after allegedly threatening to put a gun to a female victim’s head. 47-year-old Scott Thomas Hainey faces one felony count of terroristic threats and one misdemeanor count of domestic assault, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Dakota County Attorney’s office. If convicted of the felony charge, Hainey faces up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines. The Eagan Police Department responded to reports of a man making threats over the phone at 1:46 a.m. on March 27. According to the complaint, police reported to a bar, where the victim stated that Hainey threatened to “put a .22 to her head” while they were speaking on the phone. The complaint states that Hainey telephoned the victim while she was at…
Friday, February 3, 2012
Robert Lee Coleman is charged with misdemeanor domestic assault and felony terroristic threats after threatening the lives of his family during a domestic dispute.
A 30-year-old Eagan man was charged with a felony on Jan. 30 after threatening to kill his family during an altercation with his Burnsville girlfriend. According to a Dakota County criminal complaint, Robert Lee Coleman issued the threat in an effort to dissuade the alleged victim from calling Burnsville police. Coleman and the alleged victim got into an argument at an apartment in the 12000 block of Nicollet Avenue which led to him punching the woman's leg, the complaint states. While standing over her, Coleman allegedly shoved the woman's head to the floor, causing a large bump to develop on the back of her head. At that point the alleged victim threatened to call police and Coleman responding by saying he'd "kill everyone in the …
Monday, December 19, 2011
Steven Ohara Wilson, 52, was charged today with one count of malicious punishment of a child and one count of neglect.
An Eagan father who allegedly punched his son following a basketball game faces new criminal charges, the Dakota County Attorney's office announced today. Steven Ohara Wilson, 52, was originally charged with one count of misdemeanor domestic assault after allegedly holding his son's head with one arm while using the other arm to punch him after the boy's eighth-grade team lost in a basketball tournament at Lakeville High School. Wilson was arrested on Dec. 10. But the Dakota County Attorney's office announced today in a press release that it is also charging Wilson with one count of malicious punishment of a child and one count of neglect of a child, both gross misdemeanors. All of these charges will now by prosecuted by the county …
