FARGO (KVRR) – A Florida man tied to the deaths of four people near the Minnesota-Canada border has been indicted by a federal grand jury. Forty-seven-year-old Steve Shand is indicted on two counts of human smuggling. According to court documents, Shand was stopped on January 19 in a rural area between Lancaster, Minnesota and Pembina, North Dakota driving a passenger…
FARGO, N.D. — State Rep. Ruth Buffalo of Fargo introduced six pieces of legislature last year to help combat and train against human trafficking in North Dakota. With more publicity about trafficking in recent years the Human Trafficking Task Force has received more tips and been able to provide better care for victims. The awareness about both human trafficking and…
FARGO, N.D. — A Wahpeton man is given 10 years in prison for trafficking a teen from South Carolina to his home for sex. 33-year-old Dustin Gilleo was sentenced in U.S. District Court on a charge of Transportation of a Minor. The 16-year-old girl who was reported missing in South Carolina last January and tracked by her phone to the…
FARGO, N.D. – A man accused of playing a major role in a deadly international fentanyl trafficking operation has signed a federal plea agreement in North Dakota. Daniel Vivas Ceron will plead guilty to three counts, including conspiracy to import controlled substances resulting in serious bodily injury and death. He faces life in prison. The Colombian national allegedly ran his…
MINOT, N.D. (AP) – Two people are accused of trafficking a woman who worked as a prostitute last year in Fargo, Minot, Williston and Tioga. 37-year-old Andrea Beck and 46-year-old Richard Spain allegedly forced the woman to prostitute herself to cover her share of hotel bills and illegal drugs. They each face a felony charge that carries a maximum sentence…
CASS COUNTY, ND — An Illinois man known as ‘Koleone The Great’ has been sentenced for sex trafficking in Fargo-Moorhead. Anthony Collier, 30, was given 40 years in prison. He was found guilty in federal court in April of multiple counts of sex trafficking. One case involved a 17-year-old girl. A total of five victims were identified and interviewed. Their…
GRAND FORKS, ND — A Crookston woman has pleaded guilty for her role in a drug related murder in Grand Forks. Lorie Ortiz, 42, admitted that she was involved in attempting to destroy evidence after Austin Forsman was killed in the parking lot of Flying J. The murder investigation uncovered a large meth trafficking ring in the Red River Valley….
BISMARCK, ND — The opiate crisis in North Dakota is having a major impact on the court system. U.S. Attorney Chris Myers says 37 people have been charged or sentenced with heroin or fentanyl related crimes in federal court in just the past two years. He says they have prosecuted more fentanyl-related cases in federal court in the past…
GRAND FORKS, ND — Three men are headed to prison for meth trafficking in connection with a Grand Forks murder case. A judge sentenced 34-year-old Christopher Ringsrud-Knowles, of Arvilla, 26-year-old Daniel Rodriguez Jr. of Crookston and 27-year-old Aaron Morado of Grand Forks. Rodriguez is sentenced to seven years in prison, Morado is sentenced to 7 ½ years and Ringsrud-Knowles…
WASHINGTON COUNTY, Minn. — A Washington County, Minnesota attorney calls it “the Uber of sex trafficking”. Four Chinese nationals have been charged with a prostitution ring that stretched from the Twin Cities into Fargo-Moorhead, the oil patch and included a total of 29 states. Ads were placed allowing men to text and set up sex with women trafficked from…
