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U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger using office to fight violent crime
When he was sworn in on March 30, 2022, U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said the landscape of the state he had first served from 2014 to 2017 was drastically different.
ST PAUL, Minn. — A sense of lawlessness in Minneapolis is what propelled Andy Luger to seek the office of the state’s top federal prosecutor for a second time.
When he was sworn in on March 30, 2022, he said the landscape of the state he had served from 2014 to 2017 was drastically different. The rate of violent crime, particularly in Minneapolis, had reached such high levels he said he knew the federal government had to get involved.
“We as a society have come up with far more destructive ways to kill each other,” Luger said. “And so we have to address it. Fentanyl being one, and the proliferation of automatic weapons through these switches or auto spheres, as they’re called, that didn’t exist before. And that’s changed the game.”
Gang activity exploded in the last five years, he said, because of a perfect storm. That storm consisted of the pandemic closing down the courts, the riots following George Floyd’s murder and the shortage of police officers that followed.
“There grew a sense — and I’m not saying this because it’s what I think, it’s what people we prosecute tell us — is that there came to be a sense that there weren’t consequences or they weren’t severe enough consequences,” Luger said.
That’s why he made the unprecedented decision to use the considerable power and resources of his federal office to prosecute crimes normally handled at the state level.
“We decided, and by ‘we’ I mean law enforcement, myself and others, that we needed to step in in a big way, in a way that this office hasn’t done before. It certainly wasn’t doing when I was U.S. Attorney last time. But that this had to be our focus, both to change the narrative on the streets and to show people we meant business.”
The first sign he meant business came in early May when Luger announced a massive gang bust using the federal RICO Act, normally used to prosecute organized crime in mafia cases, to indict more than 40 alleged gang members.
His office now also prosecutes carjacking cases, which was unheard of, he said, in his first term.
“I never once heard the term ‘carjacking,’” Luger said. “In 2021, there were 650 carjackings in Minneapolis alone, so we went from 0 to 600 overnight. That forced us to become a U.S. attorney’s office and a city that focused on it.”
Luger said he wants criminals to understand when they are tried for a crime in federal court, the consequences are drastically different than in state court.
“You don’t have a constitutional right to bail in the federal system,” he said. “And if you’re involved in violent crime, chances are you’re not going to be released. We catch. There’s no release. There are federal prisons all over, and we don’t have parole. So, if you get sentenced to a 10-year mandatory minimum for having a switch, for having a weapon, you’re going to do the time and do it somewhere else.”
Luger believes that word about federal involvement in fighting crime and the steeper consequences it brings is getting out.
“They tell me it is. The people on the streets are telling us loud and clear that it is.”
Luger’s decision to aggressively fight crime at the federal level has won him the admiration of many who felt state and local leaders were too soft on crime for too long.
But when asked if state or local leaders are to blame, he says, the issue is too complicated to point fingers.
“Here’s what I say at dinner parties, and I get invited to fewer and fewer dinner parties because I just tell people what I think the truth is. I think we look for simple solutions to really complex problems. And so violent crime is complex. Anybody who reduces the criminal justice system to a bumper sticker isn’t being honest. There’s no catchphrase. Tough on crime. Soft on crime. Nobody’s got a magic solution. You try things. Not everything works. But we got to try.”
He said it will take about two years to see if what he’s trying is working — but he believes it will.
“I’d like to believe, and it’s my passion, that we can be the Minneapolis and the Minnesota that we were before the pandemic. Violent crime was not something people were talking about. I want us to be back there. And that would be an amazing legacy to leave with this whole office, making our part of that difference.”
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Wadena-Deer Creek head coach Kyle Petermeier told families in a letter that a rash of injuries has reduced the roster to the point that playing is a “safety issue.”
WADENA, Minn. — A central Minnesota high school is pulling the plug on the remainder of its varsity football season, saying continuing to play would not be “safe or realistic.”
Wadena-Deer Creek head coach Kyle Petermeier sent a letter home to families earlier in the week, explaining the decision to skip the Wolverines’ final game and subsequent district playoffs. Petermeier said injuries began piling up as the club reached midseason, and roster numbers hit a dangerous low following Wadena-Deer Creek’s game in week 7.
Heading into the final regular season game against Staples-Motley, Wadena-Deer Creek had just eight healthy players from 10th to 12th grade. At that point, the coach said, a difficult but necessary decision had to be made in the interest of safety.
“We are in a position now where we would have to trot out a majority of our team that is 14 and 15 years old, and that is not in the best interest of our kids,” coach Petermeier explained. “To us, safety is ahead of any individual game result. Football is a physical sport and putting out a team of mostly 14-15 year olds vs. 17-18 year olds is not safe or realistic for our team, and even the opposing team playing. “
Before the decision to end their season, the Wolverines were 1-6 on the year, losing games by up to 50 points.
Coach Petermeier credited this year’s varsity squad for their preparation, training and effort, and told parents he believes the future of the Wadena-Deer Creek football program is bright with big participation numbers with players at the fifth- to ninth-grade levels.
“Football is a game that requires strength in numbers, and we will do anything we can to keep these numbers high and keep kids out for football,” he promised.
With a 17-member jury finally seated after an arduous selection process, the prosecution and defense on Thursday took the first step in building their cases.
MANKATO, Minn. — With an arduous jury selection process finally in the rearview mirror, both prosecutors and the defense began laying out their cases Thursday in the murder trial of Adam Fravel.
Fravel is charged with four felony counts – first-degree murder, first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree intentional murder, and second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony offense – in the death of 26-year-old Maddi Kingsbury, his live-in partner and mother of Favel’s two children.
Kingsbury was last seen dropping her young son and daughter off at daycare in Winona the morning of March 31, 2023. She was reported missing by family and friends later that day. Maddi’s decomposing remains were found south of Winona 68 days later. The medical examiner eventually concluded she died of homicidal violence, likely asphyxiation.
Opening statements began shortly after 9 a.m. in Blue Earth County District Court, chosen as the venue after Judge Nancy Buytendorp ruled Fravel’s trial should be moved from Winona County due to extensive pre-trial publicity.
The state was the first to address the jury panel, with prosecutor Phil Prokopowicz immediately painting a picture of Maddi as a successful career woman and mother who had become increasingly frustrated with Fravel and his inability to contribute as their seven-year relationship crumbled.
Prokopowicz told jurors that Kingsbury had met a man, Spencer Sullivan, on a dating app and as their relationship grew Maddi decided to end her partnership with Fravel. Kingsbury contacted her landlord and said she was terminating the least, and that she had found a townhouse where she and the children would live.
The state also laid out a list of electronic and video evidence it says proves Fravel killed Maddi and engaged in an elaborate coverup, also indicating there will be testimony on alleged abuse in the relationship.
Fravel’s defense team began its opening statement with a geography lesson of sorts, with attorney Zach Bauer naming Winona and the small communities of Rushford, Choice, Mable, and the highways and county roads that run through them. Bauer asked jurors to think about the locations as they listen to testimony and absorb the evidence presented in Fravel’s trial.
The defense then began painting its own picture of the relationship between Fravel and Kingsbury, saying like many couples they had disagreements and there were times Maddi would move out the home and other times when Fravel would go home to stay with his parents.
Unlike prosecutors – who said Kingsbury’s relationship with Spencer Sullivan was getting deeper – the defense told jurors about texts from Maddi to her sister saying she was going to marry Adam Fravel. Ultimately, Bauer told the court, Kingsbury and Fravel agreed to separate but were doing so in a cooperative and planned manner.
Bauer told jurors that Fravel cooperated with police after Kingsbury disappeared, saying his defense team would show that investigators ignored evidence and facts that suggested his innocence. He indicated they will challenge the prosecution’s version of how and where the body was found, and who may have had access to the remote site not far from Mabel.
The defense also said they will call a neighbor who will testify they never heard any fighting or signs of discord in the relationship between Kingsbury and Fravel.
The 16-year-old girl was last seen in September in north Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help to find a missing teenage girl.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) shared Thursday on X that 16-year-old Tivona Cardenas was last seen in late September in north Minneapolis.
Cardenas is 5 feet 2 inches and 108 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, according to the Minnesota BCA.
If you have any information on the teen’s whereabouts, call 911.
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