Prosecutor asks for further review of Stenehjem building project

BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – A prosecutor tasked with reviewing an over-budget building project pursued by former Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem’s office wants the case to be handed back to law enforcement for further investigation.

Wade Enget, the Mountrail County state’s attorney, said he’s received additional information, including the revelation that emails from Stenehjem’s deleted state account had been recovered. But Enget wrote in a letter Wednesday that the new information is outside the scope of his review.

Stenehjem’s administration leased and renovated a building in south Bismarck to use as office space for several divisions under the Attorney General’s Office. The project drew criticism for exceeding projected costs by at least $1.7 million and for its ties to state Rep. Jason Dockter, a Bismarck Republican and close associate of Stenehjem.

Stenehjem died in January 2022. Later that year, his successor, Drew Wrigley, alerted lawmakers to the cost overrun and asked the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation to look into the building project as well as the deletion of Stenehjem’s email account by state employees.

Enget agreed in January 2024 to review a 131-page report on the investigation’s findings after two other prosecutors turned down the case.

While the report did not take a stance on whether any criminal activity occurred, it did raise some financial and ethical concerns about the handling of the building project. The investigator noted his work was hampered by a lack of subpoena power to interview key witnesses.

Enget was recently asked to review additional documents relating to the Bismarck property by the Attorney General’s Office and Monte Rogneby, who represents two companies tied to the building project, Stealth Properties LLC and D & S LLC.

But Enget says it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to review the records since the scope of his appointment only covers the Montana report.

“As such, I have not opened any shared links within emails sent to me, nor have I requested additional supporting documents,” he wrote in a Wednesday letter to Wrigley, Rogneby and Burleigh County State’s Attorney Julie Lawyer, the prosecutor who referred the case to Enget.

The North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation in February successfully recovered some of Stenehjem’s emails through the former attorney general’s personal cellphone. The Attorney General’s Office offered to provide Enget copies of the emails and other information on Stenehjem’s phone after securing a federal warrant.

The warrant was obtained for an unrelated investigation into former state Sen. Ray Holmberg.