PATTERN AND PRACTICE

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Special Report revealing the systemic issues that resulted in a federal investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department after the murder of George Floyd. Three years of original reporting, dozens of interviews, and new findings from the United States Department of Justice show how the department’s past will impact its future and the community it serves.

Part One: Payouts and Promises

Part One: Payouts and Promises

PATTERN AND PRACTICE: Part One - Payouts and Promises

Part Two: Truth and Consequences

Part Two: Truth and Consequences

Part Three: A Critical Lens

Part Three: A Critical Lens

PATTERN AND PRACTICE: Part Three - A Critical Lens

Part Four: How did we get here?

Part Four: How did we get here?

PATTERN AND PRACTICE: Part Four - How did we get here?

New problem uncovered on notorious ‘pinch point’ for Southwest Light Rail

New problem uncovered on notorious ‘pinch point’ for Southwest Light Rail

New problem uncovered on notorious ‘pinch point’ for Southwest Light Rail

A new section of light rail tracks is about a foot too close to existing freight tracks in Minneapolis. That discovery is the latest hiccup for the controversial Southwest Light Rail project, which is already years behind schedule and more than $1 billion over budget.

The Metropolitan Council recently confirmed the discrepancy to 5 INVESTIGATES after homeowners on West 21st Street raised concerns about construction not following the project’s stated design plans. 

“24 feet”

Marion Collins is among those living just steps away from the Kenilworth corridor where the Southwest Light Rail, also known as the Green Line Extension, is adding two new sets of tracks to an area that already includes freight rail carrying hazardous materials such as ethanol. 

“That’s where all of us that live all along the corridor here started to get really worried,” Collins said. “We were like, ‘We have a corridor here that is very narrow, so what is the plan for keeping us safe and keeping freight rail and light rail separate?'”

In an email to Collins, Metro Transit cited its “design criteria” for the project and stated, “the centerline of the freight track and centerline of the closest LRT track will be 25 feet apart.”

But when crews recently laid the new light rail tracks at the crossing on West 21st Street, Collins and her neighbors measured the distance and found they were about one foot too close to the freight tracks.

“Everybody’s coming up with 24 feet,” Collins said. “They have all the equipment, they have all the specialists, they have surveyors – how did they get this wrong?”

Jim Alexander, project director for the Green Line Extension, acknowledged the issue during an interview with 5 INVESTIGATES. 

“I have always understood that we have 25 feet there, so we’re talking to our engineer to understand, ‘OK what happened? What’s going on?'” Alexander said. “Because we measured it as well… we’re showing about seven inches short of the 25 feet.” 

$2.86 Billion

Alexander added that Metro Transit is now in the process of finding a “resolution,” but he would not predict what it will take to increase the distance between the light rail and freight rail tracks at the crossing in question.

“First of all, we’re still working out there,” Alexander said. “We’re not done yet.”

West 21st Street is among five remaining stations still under construction on the Southwest Light Rail route, which includes 16 stops between Minneapolis and Eden Prairie. 

Southwest Light Rail route. Green indicates the completed portion of the track, while red represents a line still under construction

In January, Alexander told Met Council members the estimated price of the 14.5 mile Southwest Light Rail had grown to $2.86 billion. That’s more than $197 million per mile. 

As 5 INVESTIGATES previously reported, managers blamed much of the cost overruns and delays on another section of the Kenilworth corridor where Metro Transit had to build a tunnel and a crash wall to separate light rail from freight trains. 

It is unknown how much more it will cost to address the new problem, about a mile away, at West 21st Street. 

Alexander called it a “small issue,” but he acknowledged that homeowners in the area may not see it that way. 

“I feel for the neighbors. We’ve been working out there for quite some time. They’re nervous. I know that and we’ve been hearing that,” Alexander said. “But we think we are building a safe system here and we’ll get this right.”

Safety at the “pinch point”

Frustration over the latest problem with Southwest Light Rail extends beyond those living along the Kenilworth corridor. 

The tracks in question are in the middle of state Rep. Frank Hornstein’s (DFL-Minneapolis) district.

“This continues to be a vexing issue. It just seems there’s one thing after the other, after the other,” said Hornstein, who has called out the Met Council in the past for what he and others described as a lack of accountability. 

“I think there’s a larger issue here, of being careful in how this is being done. And that should have been checked and double checked and triple checked and apparently it wasn’t,” Hornstein said. 

The original plans for Southwest Light Rail called for the freight tracks in question to be relocated, but that plan was eventually scrapped and the project moved forward with co-locating light rail and freight in the Kenilworth corridor. 

Twin Cities & Western Railroad relies on those rails to transport more than $1 billion in goods to and from St. Paul every year, according to Mark Wegner, president and CEO of TC&W. 

“It was recognized that in that corridor, it’s what they would call a pinch point,” Wegner said. “So we just need to make sure that all the engineering with sound and that there would be no danger of any incidents involving a freight train and a light rail train.”

Not OK with “close enough”

Wegner told 5 INVESTIGATES he was unaware of the new questions about the distance between light rail and freight tracks, but his company is working with its own independent engineer to investigate any issues that arise.

“It’s in everybody’s best interest to make sure all the safety redundancies in a track structure for freight rail are followed to a T,” Wegner said. “So basically, no surprises and no derailment issues.”

Wegner added that separating light rail and freight rail by a minimum of 25 feet is largely to protect workers when they are in the area.

Homeowners insist they just want Metro Transit to keep its word, even if the measurements are off by less than a foot. 

“I get it – it sounds like it’s not very much… but the distance is not very much,” Collins said. “I’m a physician and if I was like, ‘well, it’s close enough,’ that could cost somebody their life.”

Controversial police training company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Controversial police training company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Controversial police training company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

The controversial police training organization that is no longer approved to train officers in Minnesota is running out of cash.

The company, Street Cop Training, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following significant backlash from an investigative report out of New Jersey that found instructors with the organization promoted unconstitutional policing, disparaged minority groups, and glorified violence.

The findings were based on a now-viral conference in New Jersey from 2021, but the report sent ripple effects across the country that are still being felt today.

“I love violence, I love fighting, I love shooting, and I f****** love freedom,” one of the instructors was heard saying at the conference.

RELATED: For the first time, police licensing board pulls training because it may violate Minnesota’s ‘warrior-style’ ban

Minnesota is one of at least nine states that have effectively banned officers from receiving credit for attending courses hosted by Street Cop Training. 

Erik Misselt, the director of the state board that oversees police training and licenses, the Minnesota POST Board, told 5 INVESTIGATES in January that the group’s accreditation was pulled over concerns that it violates the state’s ban on warrior-style training.

“I mean, much of that conduct was egregious without question,” he said. “The issue for the POST board becomes, is that organization conducting that kind of training here in Minnesota?”

The decision to ban the company’s training in several states appears to be hitting the organization hard.

The bankruptcy filing says that the group moved its operations to Florida and a “vast majority” of the employees quit.

Founder Dennis Benigno previously posted a message on social media addressing the investigative report.

“I personally take responsibility and apologize for any inappropriate or offensive language,” he said, while at the same time doubling down and disputing many of the findings of the New Jersey investigation. 

Recent court filings show the debt is adding up.

It appears police departments and individual officers around the country want their money back. One of the creditors listed is the Gaylord Palms Resort in Orlando, where the company is planning to host its annual conference next month.

Attorneys for Street Cop Training asked a judge if it could still host the conference. A ruling is expected in the coming weeks.

In a recent post on social media, Street Cop said despite its bankruptcy filing, it plans to continue operations.

5 INVESTIGATES reached out to the attorney representing Street Cop Training for a statement or comment on this story, but has not received a response.

Lawmaker seeks to strengthen mental health response to 911 calls in Minnesota

Lawmaker seeks to strengthen mental health response to 911 calls in Minnesota

Lawmaker seeks to strengthen mental health response to 911 calls in Minnesota

A state representative is pushing to rewrite a law that requires 911 dispatchers to send trained mental health teams to people in crisis after 5 INVESTIGATES uncovered some counties were still sending law enforcement to those calls.

Signed in 2021, “Travis’ Law” requires dispatchers to “include a referral to mental health crisis teams, where available.”

In Minnesota, every county has access to mobile mental health crisis teams through a program sponsored by the state Department of Human Services.

But a 5 INVESTIGATES review of state data revealed nine counties that didn’t refer a single case to crisis responders in the year and a half after it passed.

Rep. Jessica Hanson (DFL-Burnsville), who wrote “Travis’ Law,” says the reporting illuminates the need for changes.

“My expectation was that, when it passed, it was enforced,” she said during a recent interview. “But unfortunately, as some of your reporting has showed as well, we’re not seeing that in every county.”

Rep. Jessica Hanson speaks with reporter Kirsten Swanson from her office in the State Office Building.

Hanson has introduced House File 4207, a bill that would require 911 dispatchers be trained to recognize mental health crisis calls. It also puts the state in charge of monitoring and enforcing the law, as well as allows the public to sue officials for violating it.

“We do think there should be some consequences and some remedies in place for the counties that choose not to implement such an important law,” Hanson said.

Mental health advocates, like Sue Abderholden, agree the law needs more teeth.

“Without the accountability, it’s not happening,” Abderholden said.

The new bill will be named “Brent’s Law,” in honor of 34-year-old Brent Alsleben, a man who was shot and killed by police after struggling with mental illness.

In 2022, Alsleben’s family called 911 repeatedly after he stopped responding to their calls and texts. His mother, Tara Sykes, told dispatchers her son was diagnosed with bipolar schizoaffective disorder.

A review of incident reports and 911 calls show the Sibley County Sheriff’s Office never sent or requested the assistance of trained mental health crisis teams to help Alsleben.

Months later, he was shot and killed by police during a welfare check.

After Alsleben’s death, Sykes wrote copious notes about her son’s ordeal in a yellow notebook that she keeps near her kitchen table. In that same notebook, she brainstormed ways to make the system better.

“These are my little notes here of what I would like to see changed, what I like to see happen,” she said, flipping through the pages.

The family now hopes Brent’s story will help lawmakers understand the need for changes to the current law. The bill has yet to be scheduled for a hearing in the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.

Brent’s family is hoping to get the bill in front of lawmakers and asking for the public to share their thoughts. You can weigh in on HF 4207 by emailing House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee chair Rep. Kelly Moller and vice chair Rep. Sandra Feist.

Tara Sykes, left, at her kitchen table where she brainstorms ways to reform the state’s mental health system

5-year-old bitten by fish sparks more scrutiny of SeaQuest

5-year-old bitten by fish sparks more scrutiny of SeaQuest

5-year-old bitten by fish sparks more scrutiny of SeaQuest

New video of a fish biting a 5-year-old boy on the hand at SeaQuest in Roseville is putting more scrutiny on the company, just one day after a nationwide investigation of the controversial chain of interactive aquariums by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS and ABC News.

The boy’s mother, Tanya Fleegel, contacted 5 INVESTIGATES after recording the incident involving her son Tuesday.

“The fish jumped out of the water and got his hand,” Fleegel said. “It scared him, but I was surprised to see that it actually broke skin too.”

In a statement, SeaQuest said, “All protocols were followed,” but Fleegel says staff only offered to take an incident report after she left and later returned to ask about the kind of fish — a trout — that bit her son.

“Their response was that fish can get excited at any time,” Fleegel said. “There wasn’t really any feeling of remorse.”

Her account of what happened in Minnesota is similar to those shared by parents whose children were also bittby en animals at other SeaQuest locations across the country.

ABC News found people reported being bitten or scratched by the animals at various SeaQuest locations at least 76 times since the company opened its first location in Layton, Utah, in 2016.

Fleegel’s son, Jack, makes it 77.

“Thankfully, my incident was just a fish. It wasn’t the iguanas or the sloths or the other animals,” Fleegel said. “Jack… He loves going on adventures. I’m afraid he’s going to be afraid to do something like this again.”

5 INVESTIGATES’ reporting also sparked reaction from more former employees as well as local and state leaders, including U.S. Representative Betty McCollum (D-Minn.).

In a statement, the congresswoman said her office has contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which licenses zoos and aquariums, for more information.

“This investigation of SeaQuest raises serious concerns about safety for guests and workers, and cruelty to animals,” McCollum said. “The Animal Welfare Act requires minimum standards of care and treatment for animals exhibited to the public. The law must be enforced and issues resolved.”

Minnesota banned the use of deepfakes in elections. Now dozens of other states are, too.

Minnesota banned the use of deepfakes in elections. Now dozens of other states are, too.

Minnesota banned the use of deepfakes in elections. Now dozens of other states are, too.

In a nearly unanimous vote last spring, lawmakers in Minnesota made it a crime to use deepfake technology to influence an election.

The state became one of the first to ban the use of A.I.-generated material in elections, which officials worry could be used to spread disinformation about candidates or the voting process.

“We wanted to get ahead of the curve,” said Sen. Erin Maye Quade (DFL-Apple Valley), who sponsored the legislation.

Now, dozens of other states are following in Minnesota’s footsteps.

In the last two months, more than 30 states filed proposed legislation that would regulate or ban the use of deepfakes in elections, according to data reviewed by 5 INVESTIGATES.

The proposals vary widely. Some states are seeking to make it a crime, as Minnesota did. Others would only create a civil penalty. Some bills allow for disclaimers on materials, while others do not.

Regardless of what’s in the proposed legislation, some cybersecurity experts are skeptical these laws will tackle the problem.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult because it’s the internet,” said Hany Farid, professor of computer science at the University of California Berkeley.

Forty-two states

Six states – including Minnesota – already have laws that ban the use of deepfakes to include an election. A legislation tracker compiled by Public Citizen shows 36 others with pending legislative proposals as of March 6th.

Maye Quade said she believes the wave of legislation is a sign that officials are concerned about the rise of artificial intelligence programs, and their impact on society.

"It's important that when we make laws around elections, we do it proactively and not reactively," she said in a recent interview.

Deepfakes are already creating challenges around conducting elections.

Days before New Hampshire's presidential primary, investigators say voters in the state received a robocall with the voice of President Biden, encouraging people not to vote.

"It's important that you save your vote for the November election," the recording said in part.

New Hampshire's Department of Justice identified the audio as an A.I.-generated deepfake and is working to trace its origins.

If that had happened in Minnesota, Maye Quade said prosecutors could pursue a case against whoever created and disseminated the audio.

"Depending on how that was created, and disseminated, that could be a violation of this law," she said.

Skepticism

While states work to pass these proposals, cybersecurity experts and some lawmakers question the effectiveness of the laws.

Hany Farid, a computer science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, worked on California's first deepfake ban, which was enacted in 2019.

Farid said there are flaws in the practical application of these laws.

"If the actor is outside of your state, you have very little recourse at this point assuming that you can actually find them, by the way," he said. "We all know that the Internet is exceedingly anonymous."

In the foreground, an image of Hany Farid, expert in detecting deepfakes, in a laptop that's propped on a table. reporter sits in the background, taking notes, listening to Farid during the interview
Hany Farid, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, specializes in detecting deepfakes.

In 2022, lawmakers in California reauthorized its deepfake ban, which was set to expire in 2023. Research presented during the legislative session revealed that there is "scant evidence" that the law was effective at deterring the use of deepfakes from including elections.

In Minnesota, state court data obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES shows no one has been charged under the state's deepfake ban since it went into effect last May.

When presented with the data, Maye Quade acknowledged that prosecutions would be "difficult," but defended the statute as a tool in the toolbox.

"We wanted to at least have that ability should a situation arise where someone could utilize the statutes," she said.

The future

Maye Quade is looking to sharpen that tool by introducing updated language to the law that would disqualify a candidate for running for or holding office if they're found to have violated the deepfake ban.

During a committee hearing in February, several of her colleagues pushed back against the additions, arguing the law has yet to be meaningfully tested.

"We haven't had an election cycle yet since we passed the last law," said Sen. Mark Koran, a Republican who represents North Branch.

When asked about those criticisms, Maye Quade argued the additions are "clarifications" to the law.

"I want this to be proactive, so we have strong rules before we get to election, before we have a problem," she said.

state senator erin maye quade, left, sits across from 5 eyewitness news reporter kirsten swanson during a recent interview at the state capitol
Sen. Erin Maye Quade (DFL-Apple Valley), left, speaks with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS during a recent interview.

Internal records raise questions about safety of animals, guests at SeaQuest

Internal records raise questions about safety of animals, guests at SeaQuest

Internal records raise questions about safety of animals, guests at SeaQuest

Behind flashy advertisements selling the fun and excitement of interacting with exotic animals, there is growing scrutiny of SeaQuest — a chain of aquariums and petting zoos with locations inside shopping malls across the country, including one in the Twin Cities. 

The company says the health and safety of its animals is its “number one priority,” but former employees describe a company culture that prioritizes profits above all else. 

Now, a joint investigation by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS and ABC News has uncovered new allegations of animal neglect, cutting corners, and putting the public in danger.

“I think people are scared to say what’s been going on,” said one former employee who asked not to be identified. “I think ultimately, something has to be said about it.”

Vaccinations “past due”

At SeaQuest Roseville inside the Rosedale Center mall, guests are encouraged to purchase “interactions,” which allow them to touch and feed a wide variety of animals including fish, birds, potbelly pigs, snakes, wallabies, sloths, and otters.

In April 2023, a veterinarian notified managers that their otters were “past due” for their rabies shots, according to internal company messages obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES.

Dr. Heather Douglas, an independent vet from Osseo who was contracted by SeaQuest, warned that the otters “cannot be on interactions until they are up to date.”

Katie Hastings, who describes herself online as Director of Wildlife for SeaQuest, responded by questioning whether the otters needed to be vaccinated at all.

“Our interactions are set up in a way that a bite would be nearly impossible,” Hastings wrote. “Would it be possible to continue interactions so that they do not lose that enrichment or training?”

The response from the vet was unequivocal.

“The otters need to have their rabies vaccines and off interactions or the facility won’t be in compliance with the Animal Welfare Act,” Douglas wrote.

Yet three sources who received the messages tell 5 INVESTIGATES that interactions between guests and the otters continued during that time.

In several posts on the SeaQuest Roseville Facebook page, the company continued to promote its otter interactions. 

“I was kind of flabbergasted that they would even go as far as to do something like that,” one former employee said.

Months later, Douglas admonished SeaQuest managers in a follow-up message.

“It has come to my attention that interactions had been occurring prior to the end of their quarantine,” Douglas wrote. “This is directly in violation of… the Animal Welfare Act.”

In a statement, SeaQuest now denies violating the law.

“There was no direct public interaction with the otters during this time,” the company wrote. “Human contact with any public guest was strictly prohibited.” 

Douglas says she parted ways with SeaQuest last year “for professional reasons,” but declined to comment further.

Repeatedly cited

Concerns about animals biting guests at SeaQuest are well documented.

ABC News found people reported being bitten or scratched by the animals at various SeaQuest locations at least 76 times since the company opened its first location in Layton, Utah, in 2016. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the federal agency that licenses zoos and aquariums, has cited SeaQuest more than once after guests were bitten by otters, according to a 5 INVESTIGATES review of public records.

Parents of children who visited SeaQuest locations in Texas and California say their children were bitten by fish.

At the stingray touch exhibit at SeaQuest Fort Worth in 2022, Helen Demore-Callejas told ABC News that her daughter was bitten by a grouper.

“All of a sudden, she shrieked and she was in pain,” Demore-Callejas said. “It wasn’t until I was holding her and she moved her hand that I saw blood on my shirt and I realized like, ‘oh, she really got hurt.’”

SeaQuest says guest injuries are taken “very seriously,” but that was not the impression of parents who spoke with ABC.

“The way that the staff reacted was really shocking. It kind of seemed like it was no big deal to them,” Demore-Callejas said. 

The USDA cited SeaQuest more than 80 times over the past five years for issues ranging from human injuries to potential disease hazards as well as inadequate care of the animals at their facilities.

“It’s dangerous”

At SeaQuest Roseville, employees repeatedly documented injured and dead animals in dozens of photos and videos obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES.

Those images include bleeding reptiles, potbelly pigs with skin disease, and a sloth employees said was shaking from stress. 

A former SeaQuest employee who spoke on the condition of anonymity expressed particular concern for wallabies at the Roseville location.

“They’re in a very small pen where they only get let out about ten minutes per day,” the employee said. “They’re in a mall with no sunlight and just have to sit there and let people pet them.”

SeaQuest says it follows all USDA guidelines and that exhibits are sized in a way that “ensures the animals have adequate room for their health and mental stimulation,” but advocates and wildlife experts are not satisfied with that answer.

Jill Fritz, Senior Director of Wildlife for the Humane Society of the United States, describes SeaQuest as an “unaccredited wild animal petting zoo.”

Fritz and others are pushing for new legislation on the federal and state levels that would allow for better enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act and potentially ban direct contact between animals and the public at facilities such as SeaQuest. 

“It’s dangerous for the public, it’s dangerous for the animals,” Fritz said. “It’s an exploitative business model. It forces these sensitive wild animals into repeated, traumatic, and dangerous encounters with people.”

Pressure from the top

Vince Covino, the founder and CEO of SeaQuest, initially agreed to an interview with ABC News, but later backed out.

In a written response to questions, the company defended its business model of charging customers up to $500 dollars for premium interactions, or “EpicQuests,” with animals. 

“Direct interactions are a superb source of enrichment for our animals and allow our guests to develop a deeper connection with wildlife and the wonders of our planet,” SeaQuest said in its statement. 

But in Minnesota and other locations across the country, former employees say they were under extreme pressure to sell as many of those interactions as possible.

“Every single day was the pressure of meeting the ‘KPI’ or kind of like the number standard for interactions,” a former Roseville employee said. “People would get certain bonuses for selling interactions.”

Former employees say they were also threatened with termination for talking to others about what was happening at SeaQuest.

Covino specifically addressed Roseville employees last year after a power outage at the facility and the death of an arapaima, a large fish. 

“This was sabotage,” Covino said in an internal video obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES. “There’s a confidentiality requirement that we don’t talk about these things outside of the team. Apparently, that happened this morning – it’s very important, it’s very sensitive, and it could lead to termination.”

Covino blamed “animal rights crazy people.”

In a statement, the company called the incident a “crime” and said it informed mall management, but Roseville Police says they have no record of anyone filing a report. 

Calls for action

Activists have long accused SeaQuest of exploiting animals.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) take credit for the closure of SeaQuest locations in Colorado and Connecticut after the group filed several complaints with state and federal authorities. 

Other experts say broader accountability could come from those who choose to spend their money elsewhere.

“It’s not the animal protection groups that the owner should be concerned about,” Fritz said. “It’s the public.”

Straw purchasing of guns contributing to Twin Cities crime wave

Aundrea Wiley says a call from her mother woke her up in the middle of the night. Wiley’s younger sister had been shot in downtown St. Paul.

“The detective was waiting outside of Regions [Hospital] and told us… she didn’t make it,” Wiley said. “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”

Marquisha Wiley, 27, was killed in a shootout that injured 14 others inside the Truck Park bar on Oct. 10. Police arrested two men within hours, but Wiley’s family later learned that the suspected shooters were not the only ones connected to the mass shooting.

As 5 INVESTIGATES first reported last month, federal agents say they traced a bloody gun at the scene to a third man, Jerome Horton Jr.

Horton is accused of buying that handgun and 32 others in a series of straw purchases in just four months — using his clean record to buy guns on behalf of others who would have been prohibited from having firearms, according to court records.

It’s part of an “uptick” in straw purchasing that is contributing to the surge of violence across the Twin Cities, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

Horton has denied buying firearms for anyone else.

A 5 INVESTIGATES review of court records in his case, as well as several other cases, shows numerous firearms found at recent crime scenes have been linked back to suspected straw purchases.

“That makes me angry,” Aundrea Wiley said. “And it scares me that (Horton) is not the only one out there. There’s a lot of people doing what he’s doing.”

The court records, as well as interviews with federal agents and local gun shop owners, reveal how a few individuals can put dozens of firearms in the wrong hands in just a matter of months, weeks, and even days.

6 cases, 118 guns

Including Horton, 5 INVESTIGATES analyzed a total of six cases involving people charged with the same crime and found they were suspected of purchasing a total of 118 guns.

Agents say Sarah Elwood bought 47 guns in the month of May 2021 alone. At least three of the guns were recovered by police investigating crimes, according to the federal complaint.

After her arrest, agents say Elwood admitted to buying the guns and selling them for a profit. “Usually about $100 per firearm.”

Investigators say Tess Fair illegally purchased 14 guns between March and July of this year, including at least one for a gang member in Minneapolis.

“Two of the guns she purchased have been recovered at crime scenes in the Twin Cities area where one or more victims were shot,” prosecutors wrote in their complaint filed in July.

Attorneys for Elwood and Fair have not responded to requests for comment.

Jon Ortiz, assistant special agent in charge for the ATF’s St. Paul division, says his agency has seen an “uptick” in straw purchasing.

While it’s difficult to determine how much the increase is driving the spike in violent crime, the ATF says it’s making such investigations a top priority. The agency has an ongoing campaign called “Don’t Lie for the Other Guy” to warn possible straw purchasers that they could be committing a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison.

“We’re going to come after them and we’re going to hold them responsible,” Ortiz said.

Classic case

Ortiz cannot comment on open cases such as Horton, Elwood, and Fair, but the ATF agreed to share evidence from what it calls a classic case of straw purchasing that shows how guns bought by one person end up at crime scenes involving someone else.

Investigators say they began taking a closer look at the guns connected to an accused gang member, Fausi Mohamed, in 2015.

“We started seeing a pattern of firearms that were recovered and purchased by the same person. That’s when we started leaning forward,” Ortiz said.

That person was Sabrina Ikar — Mohamed’s wife. Investigators found she bought six guns for Mohamed.

When ATF agents initially questioned Ikar, she said at least one of the guns was stolen, but later admitted to buying them on behalf of her husband.

“We got lucky because every firearm that she ended up buying ended up going into his hands and ended up getting recovered for the most part,” Ortiz said. “If you look at every time he was arrested in possession of a firearm, it got progressively worse.”

Soon after Mohamed shot someone in Burnsville in June 2015, agents discovered his wife had bought the gun 18 days earlier from Bill’s Gun Shop in Robbinsdale.

Agents said security video from the store showed the couple entering together, but Mohamed dropped back when it was time to complete the purchase.

“Now that we look at the video, we can tell exactly what’s going on,” Ortiz said.

First line of defense

Bill’s Gun Shop was not accused of any wrongdoing in the Ikar case and store owner John Monson points out it’s not illegal for a wife to buy her husband a gun.

He added that while some straw purchases may appear to be obvious in retrospect, differentiating a lawful transaction from a straw purchase can be difficult.

“We see that type of behavior all the time and not all of them are straw purchases,” Monson said.

He says stores track multiple purchases made by the same person in a short period of time and those records can later help agents make a straw purchasing case.

“It’s an ongoing problem we fight. We’re watching for it every day,” Monson said.

Monson says his stores have not seen an increase in suspected straw purchases, but other licensed gun dealers, including Kory Krause, say the number of attempted purchases flagged by his employees has gone up.

“In the last year and a half, it has increased significantly,” said Krause, who owns Frontiersman Sports in St. Louis Park.

He recently posted additional signs warning customers that it is illegal to buy a gun on behalf of someone else who is prohibited.

“We’ve had to refuse service or ask people to leave. It was at a point where it was multiple times a day for a while,” Krause said.

Frontiersman was the last place where Horton Jr. bought guns, according to a federal complaint. Prosecutors say he continued to make purchases after the mass shooting in St. Paul until store workers got suspicious and turned him away.

“They’re our first line of defense,” Ortiz said about licensed gun sellers. “You don’t want to deprive somebody of their right to possess or purchase a firearm, so it’s a hard job for them.”

Aundrea Wiley and her family say they want more accountability from everyone and she is now determined to be a voice for her sister.

“If somebody can just hear what I have to say and realize the pain that these people are bringing to families, maybe someone will think twice before they buy somebody else a gun,” Wiley said. “I don’t want anyone else to go through this.”

They called 911 to help their mentally ill son. A Minnesota county never sent crisis responders.

They called 911 to help their mentally ill son. A Minnesota county never sent crisis responders.

They called 911 to help their mentally ill son. A Minnesota county never sent crisis responders.

When Brent Alsleben stopped answering his mother’s calls and texts in the fall of 2022, she called 911.

She feared her eldest son, who struggled with mental illness, had hurt himself. He lived alone in an apartment in New Auburn, a small town about 65 miles west of the Twin Cities.

Tara Sykes told Sibley County dispatchers the 34-year-old had bipolar schizoaffective disorder. He had a history of burning himself and had been hospitalized twice before. Days before, he’d missed a doctor’s appointment. 

911 audio from Sept. 27, 2022 (sensitive information redacted)

“I feel like I couldn’t have done any more,” she said. “I told them everything.”

Dispatch reports obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES and corroborated by multiple interviews show Sykes and other family members called 911 eight times from September to December.  

Each time, Sibley County sent sheriff’s deputies to check on Alsleben, but advised the family there was little they could do to help.

Sykes later learned that wasn’t true.

A year earlier, Minnesota lawmakers passed Travis’ Law, which requires 911 dispatchers to “include a referral to mental health crisis teams, where available.”

But a review of incident reports and 911 calls reveals the Sibley County Sheriff’s Office never sent or requested the assistance of mental health responders to help Alsleben. 

The sheriff declined an on-camera interview to explain why, but said in a statement that “response to mental health calls has and always will be a priority for this office.”

But Sibley County is one of nine counties that didn’t refer a single case to crisis responders in the year and a half after Travis’ Law was passed, according to state data reviewed by 5 INVESTIGATES.

Mental health advocates say the data demonstrates that the law is being inconsistently implemented across the state, often with dire consequences to people in crisis.

Deb LaCroix-Kinniry works with a group that offers training on Travis’ Law.

“There needs to be some level of accountability,” she said in an interview. “It is a law.”

No referrals

Named for a Minneapolis man who was shot and killed by police during a mental health crisis, lawmakers celebrated Travis’ Law as a major step forward in the fight for an alternative response to mental health calls.

Every county has access to mobile mental health crisis teams through a state-sponsored program. The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) collects information from those teams annually to learn where referrals for services come from.

Data from 2021 and 2022, reviewed by 5 INVESTIGATES, list no referrals from law enforcement in nine counties.

Map of Minnesota, highlighting the following counties: Lake, Cook, Grant, Isanti, Yellow Medicine, Sibley, Waseca, Martin, Mower
This map shows the counties that didn’t send mobile crisis teams to calls in 2021 or 2022.
Data source: Minnesota Department of Human Services

Some counties argue the data doesn’t illustrate the steps they’ve taken to implement the law. In Cook County, for example, the sheriff’s office developed its own crisis response team through the county’s public health agency.

Other counties blame a lack of resources. Isanti County Sheriff Wayne Seiberlich said the county’s contracted mental health team had no staff available in 2021 and 2022 to respond to referrals from law enforcement.

Lake County Sheriff Nathan Stadler, who took office in 2023, told 5 INVESTIGATES he had no idea this was even a law.

“As far as I can tell, we don’t have a policy for our dispatchers in place, but we will, now that you’ve brought this to our attention,” he said over the phone earlier this month.

No oversight

LaCroix-Kinniry, the mental health advocate, said part of the problem is that no one is overseeing the implementation of the law at the state level.

“We need to have somebody monitoring this and offering help, quite frankly, as a resource to help them get it implemented,” she said.

According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS), 911 dispatch centers are operated by a county’s sheriff’s office, independent of the state. A spokesperson confirmed DPS does not provide guidance on Travis’ Law. 

“If they’re not doing it, there needs to be some kind of accountability there,” LaCroix-Kinniry said. “If you or I don’t follow a law, there is a consequence for it.” 

Sibley County Sheriff Patrick Nienaber declined multiple interview requests over the course of three months.

“We will continue to utilize resources to train and equip our staff to respond appropriately by balancing the safety of the community and potential threats to our deputies,” he wrote in a statement.

5 INVESTIGATES sent specific questions about his office’s policy on dispatching crisis responders to mental health calls. When he wouldn’t answer them, reporter Kirsten Swanson approached him outside of a county board meeting in January.

“I issued a statement, Ms. Swanson, that’s what I’m going to stand with,” Sheriff Nienaber said before walking to his office.

Deadly consequences

As time passed, Alsleben’s family grew increasingly frustrated with law enforcement’s response and concerned for their son’s wellbeing.

In November, Alsleben’s stepfather called 911. The family had finally spoken to their son on the phone. They knew he needed an evaluation and medication.

911 audio from November 23rd, 2022 (sensitive information redacted)

“He is beyond delusional at this point,” Jay Sykes told the dispatcher. “Now it’s at the point where he’s going to die if he doesn’t get in the hospital.”

But Alsleben never made it to the hospital. In December 2022, the 34-year-old was shot and killed by law enforcement from the Hutchinson Police Department in his apartment after an hours-long standoff. Investigators say Alsleben stabbed an officer with a knife during a struggle with SWAT officers.

The family believes Sibley County’s failure to follow the law in the months leading up to the shooting had deadly consequences.

“We needed somebody in the professional realm to help out,” Jay Sykes said. “I believe that if they would have sent a mental health professional, someone trained to deal with individuals who are disabled and or mentally ill, that Brent could be sitting here talking with us.” 

Jay Sykes said talking about what happened to Alsleben is their way of garnering awareness of Travis’ Law. The family is also pushing lawmakers to consider legislation that would bolster alternative responses to mental health calls. 

Despite defects, misconduct and secret recordings, BNSF insists safety is the ‘center of everything we do’

Despite defects, misconduct, and secret recordings, BNSF insists safety is the ‘center of everything we do’

Despite defects, misconduct, and secret recordings, BNSF insists safety is the ‘center of everything we do’

As a fifth-generation railroader, John Mozinski has a front-row seat at Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) – but he says that view is not what it used to be.

“The railroad should be concerned. The public should be concerned. We’re concerned,” he said.

Mozinski is general chairman of Burlington Northern System Federation (BUNOR), representing nearly 2,000 union workers from Wisconsin to the West Coast.

He’s been sounding the alarm about safety for years, blasting the railroad for cutting inspections and staff long before the fiery BNSF derailment in Raymond, Minnesota last spring.

Mozinski previously said the railroad is “playing Russian roulette with the public’s safety.”

The union’s claims come on the heels of a series of reports by 5 INVESTIGATES that revealed a history of defects on the railroad, misconduct in court, and explosive evidence in a whistleblower retaliation case.

“The manpower is not high enough out here, and they are not inspecting enough out here,” Mozinski said in an interview with 5 INVESTIGATES. “It is a matter of time before derailments. We’ve been lucky.”

The railroad disputed Mozinski’s claims in an email to 5 INVESTIGATES last week.

“We are inspecting more track mileage than ever before, and plan to inspect more with the use of technology,” said Kendall Sloan, a BNSF spokesperson.

Sloan cites a “significant increase” in its geometry cars that analyze track conditions along with newer technology that uses AI to detect and report joint defects that transmit data “for quick action.”

“Most of our primary corridors through Minnesota are visually inspected at a higher frequency than minimum regulations,” Sloan said.

But court records paint another picture.

Secret recordings

In 2021, former BNSF track inspector Don Sanders won a wrongful termination lawsuit against the railroad, saying they fired him in retaliation for reporting too many track defects.

Among the evidence in the case: secretly recorded calls between Sanders and his boss.

“All I can say is I just need your help right now to keep my ass from getting fired,” said Sanders’ supervisor on one of the calls.

“I understand. So, in order to keep you from getting fired, I need to just look the other way?” Sanders replied.

“No. We just need to have a conversation,” the supervisor said.

In another call, Sanders’ supervisor criticized him for reporting certain defects that would slow down trains, arguing that we have “bigger fish to fry.”

BNSF is still appealing the more than $2 million verdict.

Mozinski said the Sanders case offers a rare glimpse at retaliation within the railroad, like how managers are motivated to delay fixing problems. He hoped it would be a wake-up call.

“I wish the railroad would take accountability,” he said. 

National conference

Late last year, the National League of Cities hosted a round-table discussion in Atlanta with the major railroads, the Federal Railroad Administration, and mayors and council members from around the country.

As a credentialed member of the press, 5 INVESTIGATES approached the BNSF representative after the meeting to ask about the company’s safety record, the Don Sanders case, and claims made by the union.

“Safety is at the absolute center of everything we do at BNSF,” said Jeanelle Davis, Executive Public Affairs Director at BNSF for Oklahoma and Texas, who represented the railroad at the national conference.

BNSF later requested this interview be removed from the story, claiming 5 INVESTIGATES “ambushed” their employee who has “no direct connection to anything in Minnesota. (The reporter for this story notified BNSF that he would be in attendance and asked for an interview in advance. The railroad did not respond prior to the reporter approaching Davis in Atlanta.)

During the interview, 5 INVESTIGATES also asked if Davis had heard the tapes in the Don Sanders case.

“Whether I’ve heard them or not, at the end of the day, we do everything that we can on our end to try to ensure a safe railroad, and that’s through training of our employees, that’s through routine maintenance and inspections of our rail,” she said. 

BNSF later provided a series of internal company statistics they say show their commitment to safety – including that in the last seven years, derailments caused by track-related problems dropped by 73% in the Twin Cities area.

Read the full response from BNSF’s Director of External Communications, Kendall Kirkham Sloan.

The NTSB found that a broken rail caused the derailment in Raymond last March, spilling ethanol and leading to the emergency evacuation of half of the town.

During the meeting in Atlanta, railroad safety remained a key theme as the industry neared the one-year mark of the Norfolk Southern disaster in East Palestine, Ohio. 

“I can tell you the FRA is looking at safety on a daily basis,” FRA Administrator Amit Bose told those in attendance. “There is absolutely more work to do on the safety front.”

The agency repeatedly declined requests by 5 INVESTIGATES to interview Administrator Bose at the conference, citing a busy schedule.

Former BNSF track inspector who secretly recorded boss shares why he took on the railroad

Former BNSF track inspector who secretly recorded boss shares why he took on the railroad

Former BNSF track inspector who secretly recorded boss shares why he took on the railroad

Despite how it all ended, Don Sanders misses his time on the railroad.

“I actually made a difference in the job I was in,” he said to 5 INVESTIGATES in his first sit-down interview about his ongoing fight with Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF).

Sanders spent nearly a decade with BNSF, mostly in the critical job as a track inspector – a job he loved until he said the railroad cut too many corners.

“I don’t want to be the scapegoat if something happened,” Sanders said.

It’s why he says he started recording calls with his boss that 5 INVESTIGATES first aired as part of a series of reports last summer that focused on railroad safety.

“All I need is your help right now to keep my ass from getting fired.”

The calls later became a key piece of evidence in Sanders’ wrongful termination lawsuit against the railroad. He said he was fired for reporting too many defects.

“Every single time that I either called or someone was calling me, I turned it on,” Sanders said of the recordings.

BNSF MANAGER: Why in the world would we ever call FRA about anything? Unless I’m absolutely telling you to break the rules or don’t do something.

SANDERS: They know the rule book better than anybody. Keith, have I ever called the FRA on you because you told me not to follow the rules like you do all the time? No…

As the country focuses on rail safety following derailments here and around the country, Sanders’ recordings raise new questions about internal operations at the railroad. 

The calls recently found a national audience in December when “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver featured the calls on his show.

“That is automatically suspicious,” Oliver quipped after playing the clip of Sanders being berated for calling the FRA.

“If you work in a restaurant and your boss tells you under no circumstances should you ever call the health inspector, best case scenario he is being ratatouille’d,” Oliver said.

5 INVESTIGATES asked Sanders what it meant to him that people are now listening.

“It kind of opens up other people’s eyes that might be in another job safety-driven career, as to be able to stand up and do something right,” he said.

BNSF previously said that it “does not retaliate against employees.” 

After a recent conference about railroad safety in Atlanta, a company representative told 5 INVESTIGATES that “we encourage all of our employees to report things that are happening on our railroad,” adding that safety is the “center of our culture and what we do.”

The company later touted internal stats they say shows their commitment to safety, including that defect-related derailments are down by 73% in the Twin Cities.

But in 2021, a federal jury sided with Sanders’ claim that BNSF fired him in retaliation. 

His case also raises questions about how bonus pay for managers is tied to their ability to keep trains moving and defects at a minimum.

SANDERS: So in order to keep you from getting fired, I need to just look the other way?

BNSF MANAGER: No. We just need to have a conversation.

The federal jury initially awarded Sanders $9 million, but federal limits knocked it down to more than $2 million.

“Probably the best thing I’ve heard in a long time because that’s pretty much when I wanted to clear my name, so it was very relieving,” he said.

Sanders said the years-long fight with the railroad took a toll on his mental and physical health and tore apart his family.

“It meant more to me to show my kids that I did something right,” he said. “I was pretty depressed when I got fired. So, yeah, it was great.”

Sanders has yet to see any of the money that he was awarded in the case against BNSF. That is because the railroad is currently appealing the federal jury’s verdict.

Coming up Thursday at 6:00 p.m., 5 INVESTIGATES will have more of BNSF’s response to our reporting on rail safety.

Task force finalizes recommendations to reform Met Council amid objections, controversy

Task force finalizes recommendations to reform Met Council amid objections, controversy

Task force finalizes recommendations to reform Met Council amid objections, controversy

If Minnesota lawmakers choose to take on the task of reforming the Metropolitan Council in the upcoming legislative session, they will have no shortage of ideas about how to do it.

A task force charged with examining how to overhaul the largest planning agency in the state will now send six different recommendations to the Legislature.

All 17 members of the Met Council are currently appointed by the governor.

But much like many of the discussions of the task force over the last six months, the vote on Thursday was not unanimous. 

“I’m disappointed that we’re not advancing a (single) recommendation,” said Sen. Scott Dibble, DFL-Minneapolis. 

He was one of two task force members who voted against the group’s final report and previously authored legislation to make the Met Council an elected body, as outrage over the handling of the $2.86 billion Southwest Light Rail project reached a boiling point.

Others, including task force chair Rep. Frank Hornstein, DFL-Minneapolis, defended the plan to offer lawmakers more than one solution.

“Clearly one message coming out of this task force is there needs to be significant reform of the Met Council,” Hornstein said. “We have a menu of choices for the Legislature that have all been vetted and really thought through by this task force.”

Among the recommendations are proposals to make the Met Council an elected body, a hybrid of elected and appointed members, as well as models for a council of governments that could be made up of local elected officials.

Another plan would keep Met Council members appointed, but with staggered terms so that all 17 members are not selected by the same governor at any given time.

“I would have liked to have sent up one or two recommendations,” said co-chair Sen. Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake. “But I’m comfortable sending up all of them with the idea that we’ve had a chance to discuss the pros and the cons of many of them.”

Met Council Chair Charlie Zelle was not in attendance at the task force’s final meeting but provided a statement to 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Thursday.

“We appreciate the work of the Met Council Governance task force and look forward to the continued discussion on how to best serve the region going forward,” Zelle said.

Zelle did not address accusations from Myron Orfield, a University of Minnesota Law professor who accused the Met Council of interfering in the work of the task force and refusing to answer his questions during previous meetings.

“It was a cynical process by the Met Council, by the Governor’s Office,” Orfield said. “It was a very cynical process to prevent reform to a deeply troubled agency.”

Other members of the task force, including Karla Bigham, a Washington County commissioner, openly wondered whether they were getting any closer to meaningful reform.

“I don’t believe this is going away,” Bigham said. “Something tells me in five years, we’ll be at this again.”

City’s fight with unlicensed landlord highlights risks for low income renters

City’s fight with unlicensed landlord highlights risks for low income renters

City’s fight with unlicensed landlord highlights risks for low income renters

When Gabrielle Robertson rented a room at a house near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, she says her only alternative was the street. 

“It was literally, I didn’t have any other option,” Robertson said. 

She says she found the rental on the popular website Craigslist for under $500 a month.

Robertson later discovered that her live-in landlord, Mohammed Shahidullah, was convicted of operating without a rental license in 2022 after 5 INVESTIGATES exposed a history of health and safety violations at the property on Erie Street. 

“I typed up his address to the house, and it popped up a whole bunch of articles,” Robertson said. “He should not have been able to do any of this.”

But a review of public records reveals Shahidullah continued to bring in tenants without a rental license and, until last month, city inspectors took no additional action to stop him. Advocates say it is one example of a larger problem for those struggling to find affordable or low-income housing throughout Minneapolis and the state. 

Unlawful occupancy

Between May and December last year, police were called to Shahidullah’s house at least 26 times, according to data from the Minneapolis Police Department.

One of those calls was for a “dead person” last July.

Police found no signs of foul play, and the case was later ruled a drug overdose, but the investigation also revealed the woman who died was among at least six tenants at the house. 

Despite the property owner’s past violations, housing inspectors took no action at the time because the city says there were no complaints made to “Minneapolis 311.”

“Since it’s an owner-occupied property, Inspections Division would not do random, periodical checks on the property, but would respond to complaints,” said Sarah McKenzie, a city spokesperson.

McKenzie confirms the city only cited Shahidullah for “unlawful occupancy” last month after a Minneapolis Police officer contacted inspectors with concerns that the building might be “unsafe.”

A de facto eviction

Around the same time, Shahidullah attempted to evict Robertson with a handwritten notice to “vacate,” but she pushed back.

“You’ve got to take me to court, basically,” Robertson said. “And you can’t do that because you don’t have a license.”

Instead, court records show that Shahidullah sought and obtained orders for protection (OFP) against Robertson and at least one other tenant, accusing them of threatening him.

Such requests are often reserved for victims of domestic violence. But in this case, Robertson says it functioned as a de facto eviction when a police officer came to the house and ordered her to leave. 

“He’s like, ‘Are you Gabrielle Robertson?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, why?’” Robertson said. “He’s like, ‘I’m coming here to serve you these papers. You’re no longer allowed at this property.’”

Shahidullah has not responded to multiple requests for comment.

Julia Zwak, managing attorney of the Minneapolis Housing Unit for Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, says using an OFP for the sole purpose of removing a tenant would be an “abuse of the process.”

“A landlord seeking to remove someone from their rental housing needs to go through the eviction process,” Zwak said.

A common problem

Several housing advocates contacted by 5 INVESTIGATES say Shahidullah’s tactics are uncommon, but unlicensed landlords in the Twin Cities are not.

“Hearing about an unlicensed rental property is pretty run of the mill,” Zwak said. “We hear about it at least once a month.”

A review of data from the City of Minneapolis revealed nearly 70 properties with open violations for “unlawful occupancy,” “illegal bedroom,” and property owners or managers who are “ineligible” for a rental license. 

Experts warn there are likely other properties with health and safety violations which are operating under the city’s radar.

“There’s so many rental properties within Minneapolis and Hennepin County that a lot of the resources are devoted to inspections and maintenance and things that are complaint-based,” Zwak said. “But if it is just something going on behind the scenes that nobody called about, the city may not have the resources to independently seek that out.”

A painful decision

The City of Minneapolis gave Shahidullah a new deadline of Wednesday to move all tenants out of his house.

It also fined him $2,000, which a spokesperson says he has not paid.

The city will not discuss any other “ongoing enforcement actions” it might be taking, but former tenants such as Robertson insist fines and citations are no longer enough.

“I want his place to get taken away. I want him to actually learn his lesson and not be able to do that to anybody anymore,” Robertson said.

Robin Wonsley, city council member for Ward 2, shared Robertson’s frustration when contacted by 5 INVESTIGATES.

“Minneapolis has a responsibility to keep all renters, especially vulnerable ones, safe from predatory landlords,” Wonsley said in a statement. “I am working with staff in regards to this specific property and appreciate their work to ensure a safe resolution for these renters.”

Soon after getting kicked out in December, Robertson — who was pregnant at the time — had to be rushed to the hospital, where her baby boy was born premature.

The city is now offering Robertson and others relocation assistance, but as she looks for a new place to live, Robertson is also faced with a painful decision about whether to place her child for adoption.

“I don’t want to give him up, but I don’t want to bring him into the world like that,” Robertson said through tears. “With nowhere to go.”

Task force: Recommendations coming soon to reform controversial ‘48-hour rule’

Task force: Recommendations coming soon to reform controversial ’48 Hour Rule’

Task force: Recommendations coming soon to reform controversial '48 Hour Rule'

The task force formed to address a mental health crisis in jails and hospitals in Minnesota will miss its deadline to make a final report to the state Legislature, but in its final meeting on Tuesday, the group indicated recommendations are coming soon.

Lawmakers created the “Priority Admissions Task Force” last year when it voted to temporarily rescind what is known as the “48-hour rule” — a provision that required the state to quickly move people out of jail and into mental health treatment after they are civilly committed by the court.

Rather than 48 hours, 5 INVESTIGATES found many people were waiting weeks or months for a bed in a state hospital.

An onslaught of lawsuits against the Department of Human Services for violating the law prompted DHS Commissioner Jodi Harpstead and Attorney General Keith Ellison to ask the Legislature to put the 48-hour rule on hold last year. 

“Thereby make it such that we are not the target of the vast amount of litigation that we’re facing at this very moment,” Ellison said during a hearing in May 2023.

In addition to changing the timeline to within 48 hours of a “medically appropriate bed” becoming available, lawmakers also created the task force to come up with potential long-term solutions.

Ellison, who now co-chairs the task force with Harpstead, defended the position he took before the Legislature last year.

“What I’d rather do is fix the problem,” Ellison said. “And that means expansion of capacity and making sure we’re doing priority admissions right.”

At the group’s last meeting on Tuesday, members were still debating the wording of possible recommendations that range from expanding capacity at state run facilities to reworking the priority admissions waiting list to include more than only people waiting in jails.

DHS says there are currently 67 people in jails in Minnesota on the agency’s priority admissions waiting list.  

“The crisis, of course, occurs in our jails, occurs in our hospitals,” Harpstead said. “There are people in our community who have been unable to get into our Direct Care and Treatment services because of our capacity, because of the workforce shortage and because of the increased prevalence of behavioral health issues since COVID.”

The task force now expects its final recommendations will be made public as soon as Feb. 12. 

Among those watching with interest is Rep. Heather Edelson, DFL-Edina. She and others in the state Legislature could take action as soon as the upcoming session next month.

“It is my intention I will be drafting legislation that will look at what the task force has done on this complicated issue,” Edelson said. 

It is not clear if any of the suggested reforms will include a firm time limit, such as 48 hours, for moving people out of jail and into treatment — a point of concern for Kevin Wetherille, who represents several plaintiffs with lawsuits against DHS and is skeptical about whether the task force will lead to meaningful reforms.

“This problem has already been studied. It’s been studied by the Legislative auditor, reports have been written to the legislature before,” Wetherille said. “This task force, to me, was kind of set up to fail from the beginning.”

A contention Harpstead denies.

“I don’t think it was set up to fail at all. It was a rich conversation and I’m glad we all came together,” Harpstead said. “Because we’re all talking about it. We’re looking at the whole problem and we’re understanding it from all different sides.”

Video: Passenger fall on light rail at MSP airport spurs calls for more announcements

Video: Passenger fall on light rail at MSP airport spurs calls for more announcements

Video: Passenger fall on light rail at MSP airport spurs calls for more announcements

On a small stretch of the Blue Line, two light rail platforms at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport serve as a first and last stop for travelers from around the country and the world. 

John Lisbeth, 77, was headed home to Florida when he and his family members got on the train at Terminal 2 in July.

But what should have been a short hop to Terminal 1 turned into an ordeal from which Lisbeth is still recovering. 

“Before I could turn around and sit down, the train started,” Lisbeth said. “The acceleration was immediate, and there was no warning at all.”

Video from inside the train, obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES through the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, shows Lisbeth falling backward and hitting his head on the floor.

He briefly lost consciousness as his family and other riders came to his aid.  

“Waking up in a pool of blood with people trying to get me off of the floor?” Lisbeth said. “I’ve been in accidents and been hurt before, but this was right at the top of the list.”

Metro Transit never investigated the incident. Now, both transportation advocates and the agency itself are considering whether more can be done to warn passengers – especially those traveling between terminals at the airport – when trains are about to depart. 

‘It just goes’

An officer with Airport Police was first to respond to 911 calls about Lisbeth’s fall on the train.

Body camera video obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES reveals questions about announcements on the train started as soon as the officer helped Lisbeth onto the platform at Terminal 1. 

“So, no warning at all?” Lisbeth’s grandson asked. 

“No, it just goes,” the officer replied. “It goes fast.”

“There will have to be a new policy then,” the grandson said. “That’s (expletive) ridiculous.”

As a world traveler, Lisbeth says the lack of announcements on the light rail train stood out to him because he has heard them so frequently elsewhere. 

“Even overseas in Europe, they’ll warn you in the native language, and they’ll warn you in English,” Lisbeth said. “But in this case, there was no warning whatsoever.”

The same kind of warnings can be found on a separate tram at MSP, run by the airport and not Metro Transit.

“Please hold on,” a recorded voice announces to passengers. “The tram is departing the station.”

Considering changes

The injuries to Lisbeth’s hand and head were significant enough to send him to the hospital for stitches and a brain scan, causing him to miss his flight. 

A report from Airport Police noted the “sudden movement of the train.”

Officers at the scene also called in Metro Transit Police, who requested video of Lisbeth’s fall for “Risk Management review.”

Metro Transit has a Safety Department tasked with investigating serious injuries to passengers and other major events such as collisions, but the agency tells 5 INVESTIGATES it never looked into what happened to Lisbeth because “the extent of injuries was not reported immediately.”

Metro Transit also declined an interview request but added that it is now “considering adding on-board or on-platform signage and/or announcements” about departing trains.

“This is not an unsolvable problem,” Lisbeth said. “It’s an easy fix.”

The conversation about improved safety is welcomed by Joan Willshire, the former executive director of the Minnesota Council on Disability and a longtime advocate for accessible transportation. 

“To be able to act on this, to hopefully avoid any other incidents in the future, certainly would be of value, I think here,” said Willshire after watching the video of Lisbeth’s fall. “He certainly appeared to be not disabled, so what might happen if it was a person with a disability?”

Moving forward

As Lisbeth continues to recover at home in Florida, he says he is still considering whether to take legal action.

Metro Transit says “passenger falls are not systematically tracked” across the system, but safety remains its “highest priority,” and it continuously works “to identify opportunities where improvements can be made.” 

“If this is happening all the time, if it’s happening once, there’s no excuse for this thing to take off like that,” Lisbeth said. “I want this problem fixed.”

He was wrongly convicted of murder. Now Tom Rhodes wants ‘unreliable’ medical examiner held accountable.

He was wrongly convicted of murder. Now Tom Rhodes wants ‘unreliable’ medical examiner held accountable.

He was wrongly convicted of murder. Now Tom Rhodes wants ‘unreliable’ medical examiner held accountable.

The man who spent nearly 25 years in a Minnesota prison for a murder he did not commit is now suing the longtime medical examiner whose testimony helped seal his fate.

Thomas Rhodes, with the help of the Great North Innocence Project, walked out of prison a free man one year ago this month. 

He honored the anniversary Friday by filing a federal lawsuit against former Ramsey County Medical Examiner Dr. Michael McGee, along with prosecutors and detectives who worked on his case.

The lawsuit says, “Defendants not only fabricated evidence… they fabricated a crime that never occurred.”

Thomas Rhodes was released from prison on January 13, 2023, more than two decades after he began his life sentence.

Rhodes was convicted in 1998 of murdering his wife in Kandiyohi County. But last year, his conviction was thrown out due to flaws in the case, including testimony from Dr. McGee, the medical examiner labeled as “unreliable” in court.

“He indicated that I did something to my wife,” Rhodes said to 5 INVESTIGATES last year in his first interview since leaving prison. “I was trying to save her.”

Rhodes’ wife, Jane, died in August 1996 after a late-night boat ride on Green Lake in Spicer, Minn. Prosecutors argued Rhodes killed his wife by pushing her into the water and then intentionally ramming her with the boat.

The case hinged on findings from Dr. McGee, and his testimony helped convict Rhodes of murder, leading to a life sentence in prison.

But the lawsuit says McGee’s opinions were “unsupported by scientific evidence.” 

“McGee fabricated evidence against (Rhodes),” the suit reads. “Specifically, he drafted and completed a report with the false determination that Jane’s death was a homicide.”

McGee has not responded to a request for comment.

Several experts, including one retained by the state’s Conviction Review Unit, disagreed with McGee’s findings. None of them said they would have called Jane’s death a homicide.

Attorney General Keith Ellison, who leads the Conviction Review Unit, conceded in January 2023 that McGee’s testimony in Rhodes’ case was also “flawed.” 

Dr. McGee’s credibility has also suffered several jarring blows since Rhodes’ conviction.

In 2021, a federal judge in North Dakota said McGee had a “well-documented history of providing false or inaccurate testimony in court.”

As 5 INVESTIGATES first reported last year, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office launched a review of more than 70 convictions where McGee’s testimony or expertise played a significant role, in light of the new developments about Dr. McGee.

A Ramsey County spokesperson said that review is still ongoing.

The defendants named in the lawsuit include Dr. Michael McGee, Kandiyohi County Attorney Boyd Beccue, and Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office Captain William Joseph Chandler.

A spokesperson for Hennepin County said it cannot comment due to pending litigation.

For the first time, police licensing board pulls training because it may violate Minnesota’s ‘warrior-style’ ban

For the first time, police licensing board pulls training because it may violate Minnesota’s ‘warrior-style’ ban

For the first time, police licensing board pulls training because it may violate Minnesota’s ‘warrior-style’ ban

The state licensing board that oversees police officers recently retracted its approval of a national training organization that offered classes to officers in Minnesota.

The company, called Street Cop Training, had the stamp of approval from the Minnesota POST Board up until 5 INVESTIGATES started asking questions about its history. 

The state board rescinded its support days later.

Minnesota POST Board Executive Director Erik Misselt informed police chiefs in late December that “we have reason to believe that the training may violate” state law, according to an email obtained by 5 INVESTIGATES.

Street Cop Training has been embroiled in controversy in New Jersey, where last month, state investigators released the findings of an investigation into a six-day conference held there in 2021.

Investigators found the presenters at the conference promoted the use of unconstitutional policing, disparaged minority groups, and glorified violence. Video clips of presentations at the conference sent shock waves across the country.

“I love violence. I love fighting. I love shooting. And I f***** love freedom,” said presenter Tim Kennedy, with U.S. Special Forces. “It wasn’t that long ago that we were drinking out of the skulls of our enemies.”

In a statement, Kennedy said that clip was taken out of context. “It is sad to see any form of government target individuals trying to make a positive difference for their communities and society at large,” he said.

Local Ties

5 INVESTIGATES learned two of the instructors who presented in New Jersey were also approved to run classes in Minnesota. They were also named in that state’s investigation and appeared in videos.

“This is not the sort of policing that people in this state want,” said Michelle Gross, the head of Communities United Against Police Brutality.

In 2020, Gross and her colleagues successfully lobbied to pass a new law in Minnesota that bans warrior-style training that “dehumanizes people or encourages aggressive conduct.”

“The law should prevent organizations, such as Street Cop Training, from actually happening in the state, but it’s dependent on the work of the POST Board to enforce it,” she said.

State records indicate officers around the state attended Street Cop Training courses held in Minnesota. 5 INVESTIGATES reached out to every department that paid for or reimbursed officers for the training. Some departments said officers attended the training on their own time and paid for it themselves.

Before the POST Board removed its accreditation, Street Cop Training instructor Tommy Brooks promoted his upcoming $300 class called “The Gun Game” in Minnesota, featuring a big stamp in the corner: “MN POST APPROVED.”

That posting has since been removed.

New Jersey investigators found Brooks promoted unconstitutional traffic stops.

“Have a day when you pull over 20 people in a row for the sole purpose of asking them a series of questions,” Brooks said in one of the videos. “You will learn a general baseline.”

Brooks and the company did not respond to a request for comment.

State Oversight

Misselt, the head of the POST board, said the state agency is investigating Street Cop Training and the curriculum that it previously approved for Minnesota officers.

“On its face, and in viewing the report and the videos, I had the same concerns,” Misselt said. “Much of that conduct was egregious without question. The issue for the POST board becomes, ‘is that organization conducting that kind of training here in Minnesota?'”

Misselt said his staff is responsible for vetting all courses and curriculum that are submitted for POST board approval. Police officers can only obtain required continuing education credits from courses that the state agency approves.

5 INVESTIGATES asked Misselt if he regrets accrediting Street Cop Training.

“I wouldn’t say I regret it, no,” he said. “We followed our process as we do. Right now, at this moment, we probably have 6,000 approved courses out there.”

Tom Rizzo, one of the instructors who was approved to train officers in Minnesota, was named in the New Jersey report because his presentation included images about an “us versus them mentality.” In one video clip, the instructor also appears to mock the LGBTQ community.

“Keep re-imagining as he or her, him/her, she/him, whatever the f****** you want to call people now,” he said.

Rizzo told 5 INVESTIGATES he stopped working with the company Street Cop Training in 2022 but plans to re-apply on his own in Minnesota to keep offering his class.

He did not address the findings in the report of the videos, but the founder of Street Cop Training, Dennis Benigno, did respond in a video posted to the company’s website.

“I personally take responsibility and apologize for any inappropriate or offensive language,” he said.

Benigno said the organization went through sensitivity training since the conference in New Jersey, but also pushed back on many of the findings in the report.

He denies they ever promoted unconstitutional policing.

“I want to express that while we were painted as the bad guys,” he said. “We are in fact the good guys.”

For the first time, police licensing board pulls training because it may violate Minnesota’s ‘warrior-style’ ban

For the first time, police licensing board pulls training because it may violate Minnesota’s ‘warrior-style’ ban

Hennepin County Attorney unveils new policy to track officer credibility

Hennepin County Attorney unveils new policy to track officer credibility

Hennepin County Attorney unveils new policy to track officer credibility

One year into her term as the Hennepin County Attorney, Mary Moriarty is promising to disclose more information in court about an officer’s history of misconduct. 

It’s referred to as Brady material in court, named after a Supreme Court ruling from the 1960s that requires prosecutors to disclose potentially damning details about officers in their cases.

But for years, judges have called out Hennepin County on multiple occasions for not disclosing this information. In 2022 investigators with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights described the county’s system as “failing”.

Since then, 5 INVESTIGATES has reported on the flaws in the system and the impact it has had on defendants.

But Moriarty now describes the new process as a fundamental change.

“It’s really exciting because I think it’s a new era of cooperation and communication between our office and law enforcement,” she said in an interview with 5 INVESTIGATES Tuesday morning, previewing her announcement.

(KSTP-TV)

As part of the new policy, Moriarty says she has made multiple new hires to lead the collection of so-called Brady material. 

The office is now collecting a much broader set of information about officer misconduct from all 35 police agencies in the county.

One of the big shifts in the system is prosecutors will now be directed to get a court order from a judge if they need to obtain information on an officer that’s not classified as public. 

Moriarty says they will take extra steps to keep that information private.

“This is about our accountability, our credibility, to be consistent, to make sure that we are giving every defendant a fair opportunity to look at what’s there. But also to be arguing on behalf of law enforcement, if it isn’t relevant,” she said.

The new process is designed to prevent cases like what 5 INVESTIGATES highlighted in 2022 when a prosecutor accused an MPD officer in court of engaging in a cover-up, but the same officer was then called to testify again in another case.

At the time, the office said that issue was not disclosed because the officer was not disciplined.

“We can’t be going into court and making those arguments that are logically inconsistent,” Moriarty said.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley applauded the new system.

“I lacked the confidence in the previous administration and how we were doing things and there were many loopholes,” he said. “I think we could have done it better and this process has tightened that up.”

Previous reporting by 5 INVESTIGATES found that when a judge would find an officer is not credible, that information was never saved. Moriarty says that’s no longer the case.

This collection of material is commonly referred to by prosecutors as a Brady list.

The previous administration repeatedly said it does not keep a Brady list, but Moriarty said this week that there has always been a list and that it will continue.

“This office always had a Brady list. For reasons that I can’t answer, they said they didn’t,” she said. “You can call it a Brady list. You can call it a computer database. My predecessor had it. OK, we have it.”

Moriarty stressed that if an officer is on that list it does not mean their career is in jeopardy. It means there is something in the file that may have to be disclosed in court.

Serial shoplifter arrested, then released on $500 bail despite multiple warrants

Serial shoplifter arrested, then released on $500 bail despite multiple warrants

Serial shoplifter arrested, then released on $500 bail despite multiple warrants

Law enforcement is actively looking for a serial shoplifter around the Twin Cities after he was recently released from the Carver County jail on just $500 bail.

Angelo Wagner Jr. had warrants in at least three counties when Minneapolis police arrested him on Thanksgiving, just days after 5 INVESTIGATES first reported Wagner’s extensive history of shoplifting at dozens of stores across the metro area.

Target alone blames Wagner for more than $125,000 in losses, according to police records. 

After his arrest in November, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says it asked a judge to hold Wagner on $50,000 bail. But instead, he was transferred in custody to Carver County to face an outstanding felony theft charge. 

That’s when a prosecutor requested a $5,000 bond or $500 cash bail. Records show Wagner paid the bail with a credit card and walked out of jail the same day. 

‘Slip through the cracks’

A judge issued a new warrant for Wagner’s arrest last week after he failed, again, to show up for court. 

In a written response to questions from 5 INVESTIGATES, Carver County Attorney Mark Metz said “it was not believed that Mr. Wagner would be able to post this bail amount” of $500 and that he “would remain in custody.”

Metz also blamed state court administrators for eliminating prosecutors’ access to software that allowed them to access a defendant’s criminal history. 

“This necessary tool to quickly look up warrant history was not available at the time of the bail hearing,” Metz wrote. “We are now keenly aware of Mr. Wagner’s extensive criminal history.”

Erica MacDonald, a former U.S. attorney and district court judge, says she understands the public’s frustration with cases such as Wagner’s. 

“As a system, we need to work together better, stronger and smarter to make sure that we’re not letting things like this slip through the cracks,” MacDonald said.

Despite statutory limitations to setting bail in any given case, MacDonald says those decisions often hinge on two key factors — the defendant’s flight risk and whether they pose a danger to the community.

“People need to understand that ‘danger to the community’ can also be economic danger to the community,” MacDonald said. “When you start committing theft and it starts becoming a six-digit number, according to what the reports are, that’s significant economic harm and has a direct impact on the community.”

Unexpected phone call

Following multiple attempts to reach Wagner over the last month, he called 5 INVESTIGATES on the phone Wednesday afternoon.

“This all started because I was starving,” Wagner said about his history of retail theft. “There was no food in the refrigerator — something had to give.”

Wagner acknowledged his more recent crimes were because he has “bills to pay,” and he added that he plans to turn himself in to authorities, but not until after the holidays.

When 5 INVESTIGATES asked him if he was done stealing from stores, Wagner said, “Absolutely, because of you.” 

If Wagner is convicted of his latest theft charge in Carver County, that he stole an Apple iPad Pro from Target in Waconia, Metz says Wagner faces a “presumptive sentence” of 21 months in prison.

‘Forever chemicals’ remain in Minnesota, but Pentagon says PFAS are crucial to national security

Forever chemicals remain in Minnesota, but Pentagon says PFAs are crucial to national security

'Forever chemicals' remain in Minnesota, but Pentagon says PFAs are crucial to national security

For several Minnesota families, the “forever chemicals” prevalent in the land and water of more than a dozen east metro communities have earned their title as a “four-letter word.”

PFAS – per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances – once made and dumped by 3M, prompted lawsuits as more research linked the synthetic chemicals to greater risks for serious illnesses, including rare cancers.

3M recently announced it will stop manufacturing PFAS by 2025, and a new Minnesota law bans all non-essential uses of the chemicals, but now the effort to expand reforms is being called a threat to national security.

‘Mission critical’

In a letter to Congress in August, the Department of Defense (DOD) outlined the many critical uses of PFAS in aircraft, missile systems, and a wide variety of other products. 

The report specifically cites 3M’s decision to phase out the production of PFAS as a particular concern. 

“Losing access to PFAS due to overly broad regulations or severe market contractions would greatly impact national security and DOD’s ability to fulfill its mission,” the report said. 

The same suggestion that recent reforms in Minnesota are “overly broad” is especially frustrating for 17-year-old Nora Strande of Woodbury.

“It’s not overly broad. It’s exactly as broad as it needs to be,” Strande said.

Legislation to ban the non-essential use of PFAS in thousands of products in Minnesota is now known as “Amara’s Law” – named after Nora’s sister who died of cancer this year, just days before lawmakers enacted the reforms she spent the final days of her life fighting for.  

Nora Strande says she was not surprised by the DOD’s opposition to expanding similar reforms nationwide but says it would have riled her sister.

“She’d be coming running up the stairs, and she’d go, ‘Did you guys see what the DOD said?'” Strande said. “She’d be angry because she worked the last months of her life working so hard to keep people safe from these chemicals.”

Compliance concerns

The Pentagon insists the very nature of PFAS is what makes them so valuable to the military – their chemical stability, heat resistance, and waterproof qualities “provide required performance… which enable military readiness and sustainment,” the letter said. 

A retired four-star Army general who now lives in the east metro says the DOD makes a compelling case.

“This is exactly what I would’ve expected the Department of Defense to do,” said Gen. Joe Votel (ret.). “They’re trying to indicate that, ‘Hey, a very aggressive policy of stamping this out in a shorter period of time could have a significant impact.'”

Votel also notes that the Pentagon still supports reducing the impact of PFAS over time.  

The DOD letter to Congress adds that “eliminating PFAS from non-essential uses is an important step toward addressing public concerns and protecting human health and the environment.”

While 3M says it is committed to “exit” all PFAS use and manufacturing, the company tells 5 INVESTIGATES it will “continue to seek to innovate new solutions for customers,” which includes the Department of Defense.

“Most hard problems like this can be resolved in a collaborative way,” Votel said. “They’re concerned about being in compliance and not introducing things into the environment that are hazardous to service members or to the general public.”

Others say the Pentagon’s letter does not do enough to acknowledge the health risks and, instead, calls PFAS a “non-specific term” for a broad range of chemicals “which does not inform whether a compound is harmful or not.”

Eliminating exposure

The argument over whether PFAS can be considered a single “class” of chemicals is a familiar one to Matt Simcik, a professor of environmental chemistry at the University of Minnesota.

“They’re struggling with a lot of the same things that everybody else is struggling with, and that’s defining what PFAS are,” Simcik said. “We’re pretty sure these things are not good for us, and eliminating exposure is what I’m motivated to do.”

In Simcik’s lab at the U of M, his team is researching how PFAS is absorbed by fish. This year, the Minnesota Department of Health issued new guidance encouraging certain people to avoid consuming fish from some parts of the east metro area of the Twin Cities.

Simcik also receives funding from the Department of Defense as it looks to clean up military sites across the country that have been contaminated by the testing of firefighting foam containing PFAS.

“Now they’re putting a lot of money into, ‘Can we make just as effective firefighting foam that’s not fluorinated?'” Simcik said. 

Nora Strande and her family are now on a new mission of their own: to expand the kind of reforms Amara fought for nationwide. 

In meetings with lawmakers in Washington, Strande and others emphasize that Minnesota’s new law only bans non-essential uses of PFAS.

“For the greater good of humanity, if we need these products we’ll still have them,” Strande said. “But it’s not for the greater good of humanity to have them in 14,000 different products.”

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