Star Tribune
20 years in prison for River Falls man who forced woman to stream on OnlyFans, other sex sites
A western Wisconsin man has received a 20-year prison term for keeping a woman captive in his home, raping her and forcing her to appear on sexually explicit websites such as OnlyFans, then keeping the money that viewers paid.
Austin Koeckeritz, 30, of River Falls, was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to compelling the young woman to perform commercial sex acts online and sex trafficking a minor, in this case a teenage girl.
“Sex traffickers exploit vulnerable victims for profit and, increasingly, this practice includes commercial sex activity online,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement issued after sentencing.
In its written argument to the court for a 20-year term, the prosecution pointed out that Koeckeritz “used physical and sexual violence, threats of violence, isolation, emotional manipulation, and financial control to compel [the woman] to stream pornographic content online six days a week, for 10 hours a day.”
He not only sexually assaulted the teenage girl, the prosecution filing continued, he “used her to create sexually suggestive advertisements for [the woman’s] online content.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and court documents:
Koeckeritz and the woman met on Facebook in August 2020 when she was 19, and she moved in with him within a week. As the relationship continued, Koeckeritz became physically abusive and verbally threatening.
Koeckeritz told the woman, “If anybody comes to get you from this house, I will shoot them,” one document quoted him as saying. He also chased her around while brandishing a gun.
The woman was subjected to repeated sexual assaults by Koeckeritz. He also had the teenage girl sexually assault the woman at least once.
During the time he forced the woman to appear in sexually explicit ways on Only Fans and other streaming sites, Koeckeritz kept the woman isolated in the home while monitoring her phone calls and social media use. She received none of the money coming in from the streamings.
The defense countered in a court filing that the two started a company together, with Koeckeritz owning 60% and she the balance. The woman was paid in various ways, whether it be tips, wages or money held in a business bank account, and she had access to her earnings, the defense contended.
Koeckeritz was arrested in August 2022 and indicted in January 2023.
Anyone who has information about human trafficking is encouraged to contact the 24-hour National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888. More information is available at www.humantraffickinghotline.org.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.