Star Tribune
Minnesota group opposed to abortion loses battle to collect $842K from man’s estate
A leading group in Minnesota that opposes abortion has lost its battle in court for a donation of nearly $842,000 from the estate of a benefactor who bequeathed the money one day before he died.
John Charais, of Forest Lake, made a gift of almost $850,000 in February 2022 to Minnesota Citizen Concerned for Life (MCCL) and its affiliated education fund, a gesture that emptied a family trust fund. The next day, Charais died by suicide at age 81.
His son, Nick Charais, of Bemidji, stopped payment on the donation checks and said MCCL knew his father wasn’t of sound mind when it accepted the money. The group sued the son last fall in Beltrami County District Court for the money.
Last week, Judge John Melbye sided with the son and dismissed MCCL’s suit.
“The delivery of the checks does not constitute delivery of the money, and therefore there was no gift,” Melbye’s dismissal order read.
The judge also rejected the claim by MCCL that the family trust was in breach of contract by blocking the checks from being cashed, writing, “There was … no enforcement contract. Since no enforceable contract existed, [the trust] did not breach a contract in this matter.”
The MCCL and its attorney have yet to respond to a request for reaction to the dismissal and whether any further legal action is being contemplated.
Joe Windler, the family’s attorney, said Wednesday that “the court held that delivery of a check alone cannot constitute a contract and, further, that MCCL did not provide [something in return] for the check. As a result, the court held there was not any merit to MCCL’s breach of contract claim.”
The Charais family, in a statement released Wednesday, said, “While we wish MCCL would have never pursued legal action, we are thankful for the court’s decision. We are ready to put this episode behind us and continue the process of healing.”
Soon after the trust was sued, Nick Charais told the Star Tribune in December MCCL officials were “trying to strong-arm me because they didn’t think I’d fight them back. My dad wasn’t right.”
According to court documents, John Charais contacted MCCL in January 2022 after seeing news coverage of the group’s March for Life at the State Capitol. He said that it reminded him of his late wife’s deep commitment to causes opposed to abortion and that he wished to make a donation in her honor.
However, Nick Charais said his mother had no connection to MCCL and was not active in such causes. What’s more, he added, his father had informed MCCL “he was going to commit suicide,” the son said. “They knew.”
The deal quickly came together. On Feb. 10, 2022, John Charais met with MCCL officials, including Executive Director Scott Fischbach, and signed two letters affirming his donation of nearly $842,000. The next day, he died by suicide.
Fischbach is the husband of U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach, a two-term Republican whose district covers nearly all of the western half of Minnesota and who co-chairs the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus.
The gift was nearly as much as the organization receives in donations in a typical year. During the five years from 2016 to 2020, MCCL and its education fund took in $900,000 to $1.2 million in donations annually, according to federal tax filings.
Star Tribune
Former Hubbard County official, school bus driver gets six-year sentence for sex crimes against students
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.
Star Tribune
Woman charged as investigation into attack on north Minneapolis homeless shelter continues
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.
Star Tribune
6 months in jail for man shot by Minnesota deputies while resisting arrest
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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