Thursday, April 11, 2013
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said he does not have enough evidence to charge suspect Samuel Petersen for the death of Eagan resident Jonathan Thomas Lahr.
No charges will be filed against Eagan resident Samuel Walter Petersen, who was arrested in connection with death of his roommate, Jonathan Lahr, Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announced on Thursday. The decisions follows a months-long investigation into the circumstances surrounding Lahr's Jan. 1 death. Police say Petersen and Lahr fought just prior to the man's death, and that Petersen, 28, punched Lahr, 36, in the head, causing facial injuries. But in a news release issued Thursday afternoon, Backstrom said investigators did not have enough evidence to prove that Petersen wasn't acting in self-defense, and that Lahr could've died from one of several causes. On Jan. 1, police say Lahr, Petersen, Petersen's father and another …
Monday, March 25, 2013
Bashir Ahmed Abdulahi, 24, faces one count of careless driving in connection with a September crash that killed a Lakeville woman.
A 24-year-old Minneapolis man faces criminal charges in connection with an accident in Eagan last September that killed a 68-year-old Lakeville woman. Bashir Ahmed Abdulahi faces one count of careless driving in connection with the crash, which took place on Sept. 12 at the intersection of Hwy. 55 and Hwy. 149 in Eagan. Abdulahi was charged by summons and his first court appearance has not yet been scheduled. If convicted, he could face a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Sandra S. Brodin, 68, was a passenger in a Mini Cooper making a left turn onto Hwy. 149 from eastbound Hwy. 55 when her vehicle was broadsided by a Abdulahi's Dodge Caravan, which traveling west on Hwy. 55, according to a Minnesota State Patrol report. The …
Friday, December 7, 2012
John Stephen Woodward was charged by the Rice County Attorney’s Office after Minnesota Correction Facility—Faribault officials uncovered a plot by Woodward to murder Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.
A Rice County jury of 12 on Friday found John Stephen Woodward guilty of conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder of Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom. Woodward was charged by the Rice County Attorney’s Office after Minnesota Correction Facility—Faribault officials uncovered the plot to kill Backstrom. Woodward had been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit premeditated first-degree murder: one charge for Backstrom and the other for Dakota County Judge Rex Stacey. Rice County Judge Thomas Neuville dismissed the count regarding Stacey earlier this week because of lack of evidence. Woodward was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in prison on the drug charge, in which he sold methamphetamine from his Inver …
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Dakota, Ramsey and Washington county attorneys announced Wednesday that they are revising their drug-testing procedures in the wake of possible problems associated with testing by the St. Paul Police Department crime lab.
Potential problems with drug testing in the St. Paul Police Department’s crime lab could lead to trial delays, and possibly reduced charges, in cases against Dakota County defendants awaiting prosecution on drug offenses. Chief prosecutors in Dakota, Ramsey and Washington counties announced Wednesday that all drugs previously tested by the lab in pending cases will be retested. In addition, the three county attorneys announced that drug task forces and law enforcement agencies in the three counties will no longer send suspected drugs to the St. Paul lab for testing, but will instead use the services of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). “We believe that our responsibilities as prosecutors require us to take appropriate …
Monday, July 30, 2012
Eagan provider Beverly Greenagel is facing criminal charges after a three-month-old died while under her care. But that incident is just part of a larger trend that has state officials questioning whether regulations are strict enough.
Follow Eagan Patch on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter Last August, police say, Beverly Greenagel laid 3-month-old Dane Ableidinger down for a nap on a blanket in the basement of her at-home day care facility in Eagan. Later that afternoon, a 12-year-old child found the infant's body lying facedown, his blood staining the same blanket that served as his bed. A medical examiner later ruled the boy died of apparent asphyxiation. The circumstances of the case are all too familiar for Jerry Kerber, the inspector general at Minnesota’s Department of Human Services. From 2007-2011, there were 51 deaths in licensed childcare facilities across the state, more than double the 25 deaths that occurred at licensed …
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…
Saturday, June 30, 2012
In other news from around the region, Dakota County residents react to Supreme Court decision on Obamacare, and three juveniles charged in the Lakeville School scandal plead guilty.
You can't be in front of your computer 24 hours a day, so each weekend, Patch reviews the most important recent developments from throughout Dakota County. Here's a look at stories that first appeared on this site, or of Patches covering nearby cities, that may interest or affect you. To read the full stories, just click on the headlines. Dakota County Up for $1.4 Million in Federal Disaster Relief The county could get money to recover from a severe storm that ripped through on June 19, damaging roads, uprooting trees and inundating the Miesville Ravine Park Reserve. Southeast Metro Reacts to Supreme Court Ruling Residents, local health care providers and politicians weigh in on the Supreme Court decision that President Obama's '…
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Despite a massive surge in population and an increase in non-resident crime, Eagan's overall crime rates have dropped since the 1980s.
Despite a rapidly growing population and an increase in non-resident crime, Eagan's per capita crime rate has decreased during the past 25 years. This decrease, according to Eagan Police Chief Jim McDonald, is due in part to the strong foundation of community established by the city's schools, businesses, religious institutions, employment opportunities and recreation facilities. Road and developmental expansions in the 1980s established a pattern of non-resident crime in Eagan, said Eagan Police Department Patrol Sergeant Linda Myhre. The construction of Interstate 35, Interstate 494 and Cedar Avenue, and development projects such as the Mall of America, were the catalysts for the de-localization of Eagan crime, according to Myhre. During…
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Eagan Police Department
3830 Pilot Knob Rd, Eagan, MN
/articles/strong-community-contributes-to-eagan-s-low-crime-rates
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Thursday, February 16, 2012
Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom said the number of juvenile crimes prosecuted in Eagan dropped from 191 in 2010 to 169 last year.
Juvenile crime in Eagan and in Dakota County appears to be on the decline, according to Dakota County Attorney Jim Backstrom. The total number of juvenile offenders charged with crimes in Dakota County decreased by almost 8 percent last year, dropping from 1,445 in 2010 to 1,334 in 2011. “It is a good sign that the number of youth charged with a crime in our community continues to drop,” Backstrom said in a new release issue earlier this week. This is the ninth consecutive year Dakota County has experienced a decrease in the overall number of juveniles prosecuted for criminal acts. The decrease countywide is also reflected by a local drop in juvenile crime; 191 juveniles were charged with crimes in Eagan in 2010. Only 169 were charged in …
Friday, November 4, 2011
Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom's office this week charged five Eagan residents with felonies.
Dozens of Dakota County residents were charged this week with voting illegally in the 2008 general election, just days before the statute of limitations expired. The 49 people charged were among 282 complaints registered with Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom’s office in the wake of the controversial – and hard-fought – 2008 election, which spurred a months-long recount in the U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken, who was eventually declared the winner. “Until the 2008 election, we’d only gotten a handful of these referrals every election year,” Backstrom said this week. “It was quite unusual to receive almost 300 in one election cycle.” The three-year statute of limitations for knowingly …
linda
9:36 pm on Saturday, December 8, 2012
Look at his eyes - an evil man, you can see it! more ›