Star Tribune
Felony charge dropped, ex-KFAN personality Jeff Dubay admits to misdemeanor count after drug arrest
Jeff Dubay, a former longtime sports radio personality in the Twin Cities, pleaded guilty Monday and was sentenced after the latest of his many drug-related run-ins with the law.
Dubay, 56, admitted in Todd County District Court to a misdemeanor count of driving while under the influence of an illicit drug after a state trooper pulled him over in West Union on March 8. In exchange for his plea, a felony count of third-degree drug possession and a second misdemeanor driving under the influence count were dismissed.
Judge Johnathan Judd sentenced Dubay to 90 days in jail but set aside 80 of those days for two years and gave him credit for the remaining 10 days. Judd also put Dubay on two years’ probation. Terms include undergo a comprehensive assessment and follow all recommendations for care, no alcohol or illicit drug use and submit to random chemical testing.
Dubay, now living in Grand Forks, N.D., could not be reached to explain why he chose to plead guilty to the one count. He told the Star Tribune last week that “the police report is full of misinformation and horrible assumptions.”
A state trooper saw an SUV traveling erratically before stopping in the West Union Catholic Church parking lot. The SUV then left the parking lot, prompting the trooper to pull the driver over.
Dubay explained he was heading to Fargo and got off the freeway in order to get the Minnesota Gophers hockey game on his cellphone. Dubay was beneath a blanket and naked. He was restless, sweaty and speaking rapidly.
As Dubay got out of his SUV to perform sobriety testing, he was covered in vegetable oil that came from a bottle he had with him. Drug smugglers have been known to use various cooking oils to conceal meth.
A law enforcement search of his vehicle turned up methamphetamine. While at the jail, Dubay acknowledged using meth that morning.
Dubay had been a longtime co-host with Paul Allen on KFAN Radio, the Twin Cities’ leading sports talk outlet. He was fired after his arrest in 2008 for cocaine possession.
Dubay returned to the airwaves on 1500 ESPN Radio (KSTP-AM) but let go after a year in a 2014 cost-cutting move.
In 2010, he was ordered to spend 87 days in the Ramsey County workhouse after admitting he used cocaine in May of that year. In August 2016, he was sentenced to 180 days in jail and 10 years’ probation for drug possession.
In March 2018, he was put on probation for five years for beating a woman during an argument. And in November 2021, he was sentenced to probation after Bloomington police found methamphetamine on him during a traffic stop.
The DFL candidate for a Roseville seat in the Minnesota House is pushing back on allegations from his Republican opponent that he doesn’t live in the district he hopes to represent.
Curtis Johnson is currently a member of the Roseville Area Schools board. He has owned a home in Little Canada since 2017, according to Ramsey County property records.
In May he filed to run for the open seat in House District 40B, saying he lived in an apartment complex less than 3 miles from his Little Canada home. The district includes parts of Roseville and Shoreview and has been represented by DFLer Jamie Becker-Finn, who isn’t seeking re-election, since 2017.
In a statement, Johnson said he and his wife decided to move to Roseville last year, but they’ve struggled to find the right house. In the meantime, he’s been renting “a Roseville apartment as my primary residence while we keep searching for a forever home.”
“My wife and our youngest child still live in the house because we didn’t want to disrupt our child’s life by moving the rest of the family into my apartment and then moving them again after we found a house in Roseville,” Johnson’s statement said.
Wikstrom released an ad Oct. 15 that accused Johnson of lying about his residency, but he has not committed to making a legal challenge. A residency challenge would be decided by the Minnesota Supreme Court.
“My confidence level is high that we have a solid case he is not a resident of the district,” Wikstrom said in an interview. He noted that Johnson’s vehicle is often at the Little Canada home and a portable storage container appeared out front days after his political ad went online.
An unlicensed driver is now charged on accusations that he was speeding and under the influence of alcohol when he set off a chain-reaction pileup on an interstate exit ramp in Minneapolis, leaving one person dead and several others injured.
Talon Covie-Cardell Walker, 29, of St. Paul, was charged late Thursday afternoon in Hennepin County District Court with criminal vehicular homicide in connection with the seven-vehicle pileup about 9:15 p.m. Wednesday after exiting from eastbound Interstate 94 toward Lyndale Avenue.
Walker remains held without bail ahead of a court appearance Friday afternoon. Court records do not list an attorney for him.
A search warrant affidavit was filed in court by the State Patrol that cleared the way for Walker’s blood to be collected to measure his degree of intoxication. Results are pending. The affidavit said Walker was “pushing 100 mph when taking the ramp, [and] it appears no braking took place before the crash.”
Walker was driving without a valid license, according to the state Department of Public Safety. In late 2019, his license was suspended, then it was revoked in spring 2021, the agency said.
Court records in Minnesota show Walker has traffic convictions for careless driving and operating a motorcycle without a license. State records also show convictions for illegal weapons possession, disorderly conduct, a minor drug offense and twice for violating a court no-contact order.
Walker’s passenger, 20-year-old Taniyah Randle-Smith, was taken by ambulance to HCMC with life-threatening injuries, according to the patrol. A hospital spokeswoman said Thursday afternoon that she was in critical condition.
Killed in the crash was Natalie Gubbay, a 26-year-old SUV driver from Minneapolis, whose vehicle was struck by Walker’s. Her passenger, Molly Elizabeth Brenton, 28, of Virginia, Minn., was taken to HCMC with noncritical injuries.
A juvenile has died while in detention at the Red Wing correctional facility in southeastern Minnesota.
Officials with the Minnesota Department of Corrections said staff on Saturday found an inmate who was unresponsive. Authorities attempted life-saving measures, which were unsuccessful. Paramedics arrived and the resident was pronounced dead at the scene, said spokeswoman Shannon Loehrke.
An investigation is underway to determine how the inmate died, she added.
No information about the identify of the deceased was released.
The Red Wing facility has a capacity of 88 inmates.
