FARGO (KVRR) – The Internal Revenue Service is investigating a tax preparer from Houston, Texas in connection with allegedly filing fraudulent tax returns for clients in at least 15 states, most of them in North Dakota. A newly unsealed search warrant affidavit in U.S. District Court in Fargo identifies the man as Casper Akoto. The affidavit says Akoto is under…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR ) — The alleged leader of a criminal gang called the “Slither Gang” is sentenced to 25 years in prison for violent robberies. 26-year-old Abbot Aho, also known as Boogie, of Fergus Falls was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Fargo on Tuesday. Aho was sentenced on a number of charges including Continuing Criminal Enterprise, Conspiracy to…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — A Fargo woman is sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison for a string of violent commercial sex robberies. 20-year-old Harleigh Haugen was also given three years of supervised release in U.S. District Court for conspiracy to commit robbery and robbery. An investigation revealed Haugen and 21-year-old Jordan Kraft conspired with a group of young males…
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A former North Dakota oilfield executive has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges for misleading shareholders about his company’s value, in a scheme that eventually forced it to go bankrupt and led to more than $886 million in losses. Joseph Kostelecky, of Dickinson, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count each of wire fraud and securities fraud. The…
FARGO (KVRR) – A man who had been on trial in U.S. District Court in Fargo is dead after he pulled out an object and cut himself in the throat. North Dakota U.S. Marshal Dallas Carlson says the incident happened Monday afternoon after a jury returned a partial guilty verdict against the man, who had faced terrorizing-related charges. “He produced…
RED LAKE, Minn. — Two Red Lake, Minnesota men face federal charges in separate child sexual abuse cases on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. 38-year-old Keith Ehrich and 24-year-old Kory Lussier made their initial appearances Friday in U.S. District Court. Ehrich faces two counts for the alleged sexual abuse of a minor between August 2017 and October 2020. Lussier is…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — A Fargo man that took part in a riot last year pleaded guilty is U.S. District Court to Civil Disorder. Thirty-one-year-old Errick Toa, originally from California, was seen on video stomping on the windshield of an occupied police vehicle. The protests took place in May after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. They started off…
THIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn.–A Thief River Falls man made his first court appearance on Monday after being charged with production, distribution and possession of child pornography. According to the indictment, between February 12, 2020 and February 20, 2020 38-year-old Benjamin Joseph Roggenbuck attempted to use two children to produce sexually explicit content. Roggenbuck also knowingly distributed child pornography and was…
WHITE EARTH, Minn.–A Ponsford man has been charged with four counts of assault and robbery following an incident on June 3. Authorities say 22-year-old Wesley Robert Warren reportedly robbed and assaulted a victim with a cinder block. The victim sustained serious injuries during the assault. Warren made his initial court appearance in U.S. District Court in Bemidji on Wednesday. According…
GRAND FORKS, N.D. — A Grand Forks man has been given nine years in federal prison for possessing child porn. U.S. District Court Chief Judge Peter Welte sentenced 28-year-old Nicholas Bartholome to 10 years supervised release following that sentence. Bartholome was also ordered to pay $200 in special assessments to the Crime Victims’ Fund. Between August 2017 and May 2018,…
