Courtesy: NewsDakotaVALLEY CITY, ND — The Valley City Public School District is offering free counseling services while the community mourns the loss of a child. A page on the website CaringBridge says Samuel Noeske passed away on Friday at around 4:50a.m. He was a student with the Valley City Public School system. The website says he suffered from a cardiac…
FARGO, ND — Police are investigating a report of a stranger approaching a child in south Fargo. According to a social media posting on the site ‘Nextdoor’, an 11-year-old boy was approached in the area of 17th Avenue and 20th Street South in Fargo. The boy said a man asked him to get into his vehicle and after he told…
CHISAGO COUNTY, Minn. — A carjacking suspect is dead after an officer-involved shooting in east-central Minnesota and his young daughter who was in the car is safe. The Chisago County Sheriff’s Office says law officers fired shots after the suspect was found outside the town of Harris. The man died at the scene. The carjacking was reported earlier in North…
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A former Bemidji assistant principal now faces federal child sexual exploitation charges. Brandon Bjerknes, 34, was arrested Tuesday and appeared today in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. He is charged with the production and distribution of child porn and enticement of a minor. Court documents show Bjerknes posed online as a 13 to 15-year-old male…
MOORHEAD, Minn. — An online child porn investigation has led police to a predatory sex offender in Moorhead. Investigators seized two tablets and a cellphone from the home of 33-year-old Justin Worcester-Jordan. The Clay County Attorney’s office is considering charges. Authorities got a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Court documents say Jordan was convicted of…
FARGO, ND — A Fargo man is sentenced on criminal sex charges. Christopher Leiva was given seven years in prison. He’ll be on probation for 10 years and he’ll have to register as a sex offender. A charge of child abuse or neglect was dropped as part of his plea deal. Leiva was accused of committing sexual acts with someone under…
SISSETON, SD — Two people have died in a house fire on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation in northeastern South Dakota. The Sisseton Fire Chief says an adult and a child escaped from the burning home Sunday. After the fire was out, two others were found upstairs. They were taken to a hospital in Sisseton where they died. He says…
BISMARCK, ND — A former deputy U.S. marshal has been sentenced for receiving child porn. Michael Rivera, of Bismarck, was sentenced to seven years in prison. Officers found dozens of pictures and videos of child porn on his computer. Rivera was indicted by a grand jury in October and pleaded guilty in January. In February, Rivera was found guilty…
WEST FARGO, N.D. — A West Fargo special education teacher says she made a mistake when she wrote offensive social media comments. Sheridan Tihista was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation. Tihista released the following statement to KVRR Local News: “I attended basketball games, bought my kids lunch when their accounts were negative, attended adoption…
BISMARCK, N.D. — A Standing Rock Sioux tribal leader is on trial on child sex abuse charges. Cannon Ball District Chairman Robert Fool Bear, Sr., 54, has pleaded not guilty in federal court in Bismarck. He’s accused of repeatedly raping and physically assaulting a girl over the course of five years. Fool Bear claims the girl made up the…
