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Chronically violent felon given 18-plus years for beating staffer at sex offender treatment facility

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A chronically violent felon has received a term topping 18 years for the beating of a security staffer working in the state’s sex offender treatment facility in Moose Lake.

Nicolas L. Aron-Jones, 29, was sentenced Tuesday in Carlton County District Court after pleading guilty to second-degree attempted murder in connection with the unprovoked attack on May 1 at the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) site.

With credit for time in custody since his arrest, Aron-Jones is expected to serve the first 12 years of his term in prison and the balance on supervised release.

The victim, a 53-year-old security counselor who was making his scheduled rounds at the time, suffered bleeding on the brain and a cut near his right eye during the ambush, the charges read. He was taken by air ambulance to a hospital for treatment. The MSOP has not release his identity.

Aron-Jones was committed as a client to the program in 2015 as a sexually dangerous person and was being housed in Omega 2, one of Moose Lake’s more restrictive units.

Court records show that Aron-Jones has numerous convictions for violent outbursts at the Moose Lake facility: In June 2020, he was handcuffed while he kneed and bit a staff member; in March 2019, he put a hairbrush in a sock and swung it at things, damaging windows and yelling death threats at staff during a 20-minute tirade; in June 2017, he punched and kicked a security counselor into unconsciousness; in May 2016, he spit at and attacked a security counselor, broke a table and threw a chair at a television.

According to the charges involving his latest violent act:

Aron-Jones swung a pillowcase holding a motor for a fan and hit the counselor in the back of the head. The man fell to the floor and was struck with the motor several more times to the head and elsewhere. Aron-Jones then kicked and stomped on his victim’s head.

Other staff intervened, sprayed a chemical irritant at Aron-Jones, who retreated to his room and closed the door.



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Former Hubbard County official, school bus driver gets six-year sentence for sex crimes against students

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A former Hubbard County commissioner and school bus driver was sentenced Friday to six years in prison for sex crimes involving minors.

Daniel J. Stacey, 60, was charged in April 2023 with criminal sexual conduct and electronic solicitation of a minor, both felonies, in Beltrami County District Court. He was then charged in November with nine additional felony counts related to criminal sexual contact with a minor.

Stacey pleaded guilty in June to four felony counts as part of a plea deal that dropped the remaining charges. His attorney, Joseph Tamburino, declined to comment Friday on the sentence, and officials with the Nevis school district did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

Stacey resigned from the Hubbard County Board in January 2023 and was placed on leave from his school bus job during an investigation by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) that began after the parent of a Nevis student filed a complaint.

In an email Friday, Hubbard County Administrator Jeffrey Cadwell said he had no comment other than that Stacey’s actions “did not occur within the course and scope of his duties with the County and the County was completely unaware of them.”

According to a criminal complaint, Stacey offered to mentor a 13-year-old male on his bus route. He brought the boy to his property, asked him to watch pornography and tried to touch him in a sexual manner, court documents state.

The boy told investigators that Stacey told him not to tell anyone, and helped him rehearse what to say about doing chores at his property. Investigators said they found footage showing times Stacey would deactivate the school bus camera when the boy was the only student left on the bus.

A second criminal complaint outlines similar allegations against Stacey with a minor who was 14 years old.



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Woman charged as investigation into attack on north Minneapolis homeless shelter continues

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A 33-year-old woman has been charged with two felonies in connection with an attack on a north Minneapolis homeless shelter that forced 54 women and children to relocate last week.

Eureka D. Riser, 33, of Minneapolis, is charged with second-degree rioting with a dangerous weapon and first-degree damage to property, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office. She was in custody Friday, a day after Minneapolis police confirmed her arrest.

Riser, also known as Eureka Willis, is alleged to have been in a group of at least three people who on Sept. 5 went to St. Anne’s Place, 2634 Russell Av. N., and threatened residents, smashing doors with a baseball bat.

Residents were forced to vacate the shelter, leaving it boarded with plywood and watched over by armed security. Building managers estimate that property damage amounts to more than $10,000, according to the county attorney’s office. Additional charges may be brought against others involved.

“This violent attack on some of our most vulnerable community members, unhoused women and children, in a place where they had gone to seek shelter and safety cannot be tolerated,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement.

Hoang Murphy, the CEO of People Serving People, which operates the shelter, said earlier this week that the four-hour episode was the culmination of an argument between shelter residents and neighbors over street parking that started days earlier and spilled over into violence.

According to the criminal complaint, which cites surveillance footage, Riser allegedly swung a baseball bat against the shelter’s doors, shattering glass while residents were inside. Another member of the group pointed what appears to be a gun at the front door of the building, the complaint says.

Residents have since been relocated to a hotel for safety reasons, costing People Serving People $9,000 a night — a figure that Murphy called unsustainable.



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6 months in jail for man shot by Minnesota deputies while resisting arrest

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A man who was shot and wounded by sheriff’s deputies in east-central Minnesota while resisting arrest received a six-month jail term Friday.

Leo H. Hacker, 71, was sentenced in Pine County District Court in connection with his guilty plea in two cases of assault, and obstructing and fleeing law enforcement in connection with his clashes with deputies in February 2023.

Hacker’s sentences will be served concurrently and includes Judge Jason Steffen setting aside a three-year sentence sought by the County Attorney’s Office. Steffen’s terms also include five years’ probation and community work service.

According to the charges in each case and related court documents:

On Feb. 21, deputies tried to pull over Hacker’s pickup truck on a gravel road about a mile from his Pine City home. As two deputies approached his vehicle, he drove toward them. Both deputies opened fire on Hacker and wounded him.

Hacker was wanted at the time on charges of second-degree assault and obstructing law enforcement in connection with allegations that he pointed a gun at a deputy outside his home on Feb. 14 and angrily defied orders to drop the weapon.

At one point, Hacker warned the deputies that if they did not leave, he would return with “something bigger,” the charges quoted him as saying.

The deputy was there to seize Hacker’s SUV stemming from a dispute over his unpaid attorney fees, the charges read. However, law enforcement outside the home “determined that based on the totality of circumstances, it was in the interest of safety to leave the scene at that time” and instead seek a warrant for Hacker’s arrest, the criminal complaint continued.



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