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Duluth man pleads guilty to criminal sexual conduct with girls

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DULUTH – With freshly selected jurors waiting nearby for the start of an expected days-long trial, a Duluth man facing criminal sexual conduct charges took a last-minute plea deal instead of facing the women he abused when they were children.

Clint Franklin Massie, 49, pleaded guilty Wednesday morning at the St. Louis County Courthouse to the four counts from incidents dating back to 2008-09 when two of his victims were young girls. The deal dismissed one of the counts against him. His sentencing is scheduled for March 20, and he could end up with more than nine years in prison. Massie, who was initially charged in February 2023 and has been out on $300,000 bail, was released until his sentencing.

In each case, the victim was known to Massie — whether they were related or through their shared membership at Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. He was friends with their parents and regarded as a fun, child-free uncle, according to reports from the investigation.

Assistant St. Louis County Attorney Michael Ryan told the court that the victims were satisfied with the deal.

“They have been involved in talking this through,” he said to Judge Dale Harris.

After Massie pleaded guilty, would-be witnesses and their supporters filed into the courtroom filling rows. Massie, dressed in a dark suit coat and khaki pants, turned to look. Ryan questioned him on the victims’ accusations — four specific scenarios where he had touched girls: during a sleepover at his house, when alone on a tractor, or beneath a blanket while others were in the room.

Massie said in court there were a lot of big gatherings and shared meals within this the group. It wasn’t unusual for one of the many children to sit on his lap.

At times Massie paused and said he couldn’t remember exact details or motives. At other times he deferred to what he told investigating officers last year. In each instance he ultimately agreed with the scenario presented by the prosecution.



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ATF director, federal law enforcement leaders in Minneapolis this week for multi-day summit

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Dettelbach began Monday by imploring the room to make the case in their respective corners of the country for Congress not to slash ATF’s budget further next year. He said Congress cut the bureau’s budget by $50 million last year and he has since heard talk of a far steeper cut next year.

“That will mean that we will not be able to provide the services to you, our partners that we want to. We’re a small agency. We can’t take that kind of cut without talking about closing down whole areas of operations in this country.”

Dettelbach hailed the ATF’s gun tracing and ballistics investigation programs. The latter, he said, helped generate 200,000 leads for police around the country in 2023. Also last year, Dettelbach said, agents traced 645,000 guns used in crimes. Agents can turn around emergency trace requests as quickly as within a half-hour, Dettelbach said, such as the firearm used in the July attempted assassination of Trump during a Pennsylvania rally.

Dettelbach later said in an interview that new firearms trafficking and straw purchasing statutes passed as part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act in 2022 have so far led to more than 1,000 new charges.

Dettelbach and others Monday credited programs such as the PSP with helping drive down violent crime in many corners of the country in the past year. While O’Hara said Minneapolis recently exceeded its 2023 homicide total, overall shootings are trending downward in the city this year.

“Our partnerships in the gang cases, working those in concert with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we are looking to make an impact and you can already see the fruits of our labor,” added Alvin Winston, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Minneapolis division, in an interview Monday.



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What is suspect Luigi Mangione’s motive in UnitedHealthcare CEO shooting

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Authorities detained a person of interest in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Pennsylvania on Monday, identifying the individual as Luigi Mangione.

Mangione, 26, was spotted at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pa, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a news conference. Officers questioned Mangione and found he was carrying multiple fake IDs and a U.S. passport, a gun and a firearm suppressor similar to the one used in the murder, she said.

Mangione was “sitting and eating” in the McDonald’s Monday morning when he was identified by the employee, said Joseph Kenny, chief of detectives with the New York Police Department.

Police found a three-page handwritten document that allegedly spoke to the suspect’s motivation in the killing and his mindset. According to the New York Times, the document criticized health care companies for putting profits above care, according to the New York Times. Kenny said the manifesto did not target other individuals, but did convey a dislike for corporate society. “It does seem he has some ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.

The recovered firearm was a 9mm “ghost gun,” which may have been made with a 3D printer, Kenny said.

Mangione’s last known address was Honolulu, Hawaii, according to Kenny. But he was born and raised in Maryland and also has ties to San Francisco.

Mangione was high school valedictorian at the all boys Gilman School in Baltimore. High school tuition at Gilman is $37,690, according to the school’s admissions page.

In a message emailed to Gilman families on Monday, Head of School Henry Smyth said the school is aware that Mangione has been linked to the shooting. His email confirmed that Mangione was a Gilman alumnus in the class of 2016.



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Resort owners near Boundary Waters drop expansion after state sues

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The proposed expansion would have increased the total number of dwelling units on the site from 13 to 62 and added 12 docks with space for 75 boats. The county’s shoreline protection rules, which were written with the DNR in the 1990s, allow the resort a maximum of 29 dwelling units and docks that could fit a maximum of 14 boats, the DNR argued.

Exceeding those numbers could threaten the stability of the shoreline and the aquatic environment of both White Iron and Farm lakes, according to the agency.

The lawsuit was the third time since last year that the DNR sued a local government for failing to enforce shoreline development rules. It sued the city of Fairmont in 2023 after council members tried to issue a permit for a restaurant to build a new dock and lake-front patio over the objections of the DNR. The city agreed to withdraw the permit a few months later.

In January, the agency sued the city of Minneapolis after it gave permission to a homeowner to build on a bluff of the Mississippi River. That case is still in court.



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