Star Tribune
Blaine woman charged with sexual assault of youth hockey teammates in Roseville
Prosecutors say a Blaine woman sexually assaulted two teenage boys from Colorado who were in Roseville last month to play in a hockey tournament.
Allison Schardin, 38, was arrested Thursday on charges of third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and remains in custody at the Ramsey County jail. She allegedly assaulted two 15-year-olds on a Colorado youth hockey team who were in town for a tournament. A third teen witnessed the alleged assaults.
According to the charges:
While in a hot tub with the teens at the hotel on the evening of Jan. 14, Schardin told them she had marital problems. One of the teens cited in the charges said Schardin’s husband came to the pool area and yelled something like, “If you don’t come upstairs, our relationship is over.”
The boys went to their rooms, where one received a snapchat from Schardin stating that she and her husband had gotten into an argument and asking if she could come over to the teen’s room.
Two of the teammates did not want her there, but one reportedly allowed her in because she said she needed help. Those two teammates left when Schardin arrived, leaving her with the three boys cited in the charges.
She told the teens that she was afraid of her husband, and eventually started talking about “sex and stuff.” She got into bed with two of the boys while the third one was in another bed, asking them how sexually active they were. They told her their ages when she asked, mentioning that they played for a 16-and-under team.
She then began sexual acts with two of the teens and asked them to perform sexual acts on her. One of the boys said they felt uncomfortable and that he didn’t want to have sex with her, despite her insistence. He eventually told Schardin he had to sleep because of a game the next day, and she left.
The teens said Schardin showed up at their game the next day. “[Victim 1] said they all started getting nervous and he was shaking on the bench at one point because he wanted to leave what happened the night before in the past and she was trying to follow them,” according to the charges.
Schardin reportedly asked victim 1 not to report what happened to the police once they returned to Colorado. He agreed and blocked her, but she messaged the second boy to apologize for attending their game.
After she was arrested Thursday, Schardin told investigators that her husband and two children went to the hotel that weekend for a staycation and that she had made casual conversation with the boys around the pool. She said she enjoyed the boys’ attention when they asked for a picture and information.
Schardin said she accepted their invitation to go to their room in order to get away from her husband, and admitted to kissing some of the boys. She said they asked her to take er clothes off and that she initially said no. She admitted to sexual contact with two of the boys and asking them for a condom, but “claimed she wasn’t going to go through with ‘it.’ “
Schardin’s first hearing is scheduled for Monday in Ramsey County District Court.
A former Medtronic consultant received an 18-month prison sentence this week for his role in a scheme linked to the $1.6 billion acquisition of an Israeli medical device company in 2018.
A federal jury in February convicted Doron “Ron” Tavlin, 69, of Minneapolis, of one count of conspiracy to engage in insider trading and 10 additional counts related to securities fraud. That same jury found David Jay Gantman, 58, of Mendota Heights, not guilty of all charges against him. A third defendant — Afshin “Alex” Farahan, 57, of Los Angeles — pleaded guilty in 2022 and has yet to be sentenced.
“His crime was cynical and brazen. It was also reckless,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Ebert wrote in a memo calling for a 3-year prison term. “Tavlin’s conduct had the potential to blow up a deal that a team of executives and financial advisers had been diligently negotiating for months.”
Tavlin is now scheduled to self-surrender Jan. 5 to begin his prison term, which will be followed by 320 hours of community service.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Tavlin learned about a secret, pending acquisition by Medtronic of Mazor Robotics, where he worked as vice president of business development, in 2018. Tavlin also previously worked as a consultant to the Ireland-based Medtronic, which also has a headquarters in Fridley.
Tavlin illegally tipped off Farahan, his friend, about news of the imminent acquisition and told him to keep the news secret. Farahan knew the deal would likely result in a boost to Mazor’s stock price and quickly bought more than $1 million of the company’s stock throughout August and September 2018. Medtronic announced plans to acquire Mazor, which specialized in robotics for spinal procedures, in September 2018 and the deal closed three months later.
Prosecutors said Farahan netted more than $245,000, and Gantman made $255,000 in profit by selling the securities quickly after the deal was publicized. Farahan paid Tavlin for the secret information about the pending deal — including a $25,000 kickback about a year later —according to prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank, who sentenced Tavlin Monday, also ordered Tavlin to pay a special assessment fee of $1,100 – or $100 per each count. Frank did not impose a fine.
Star Tribune
Charges detail assault in Minneapolis that led to shooting rampage, killing one in Kandiyohi County
Another friend of the ex-girlfriend arrived to help. He pulled up in a car as the group exited the apartment and Matariyeh immediately pointed a gun at him before pounding on the windshield with the gun. Everyone fled as Matariyeh ran back inside the apartment.
The two men met in a parking lot before attempting to return to the apartment. That’s when they looked up and saw Matariyeh on the balcony. Matariyeh immediately began firing multiple shots at them as they took cover behind parked cars.
It was around this time that Minneapolis police officers arrived and made contact with Matariyeh’s ex-girlfriend. She believed he was still inside the apartment, but officers later learned that he had fled. They reached him on the phone. He told officers he was going to kill innocent people if he couldn’t speak with his ex-girlfriend or see his daughter, who was at daycare at the time. He later told police negotiators that “he wanted to go out by ‘suicide by cop.’”
All the while, Matariyeh was speeding westbound.
Police officers pursued him near Cosmos in Meeker County after being alerted that Matariyeh might have stolen another vehicle at gunpoint in Carver County.
Around 2 p.m. he pulled into the rural driveway of Peter Mayerchak in Lake Lillian. Mayerchak, who was in his yard placing hay over his septic mound, went and greeted Matariyeh, who shot him in the chest.
Mixing progressive dreams with dire warnings, a group of DFL leaders riled up a group of volunteers in St. Paul on Thursday morning, urging them to push on through the day’s freezing rain and fatigue in the remaining days before the election.
Several elected officials including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar told the group of about 150 campaign staffers, volunteers and union members about how meaningful their work is to keeping DFL control of the Legislature, as the electeds start a statewide bus tour to turn out votes.
“We are here to keep our trifecta here in Minnesota,” U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar told volunteers on Thursday. “We’ve got five days, people!”
On the Republican side, House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said earlier this month that the House Republican Campaign Committee had raised a record $2.7 million ahead of the election and she said Republicans have also set records in volunteering and door-knocking as they work to break DFL control.
Minnesota Democrats hold a rally before starting a bus tour around the state to get voters excited, including Rep Ilhan Omar, Sen Amy Klobuchar, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, House Speaker Melissa Hortman, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, Rep Betty McCollum and Sen Tina Smith on Thursday. (Glen Stubbe/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
“Republicans have the momentum and resources heading into the final stretch to win the majority and restore balance to Minnesota,” Demuth said in a statement. “Minnesotans are ready to move on from the expensive two years of Democrat one-party rule.”
House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said she thought voters preferred action to the gridlock of divided government. “They’re looking for people who can get things done,” she said.
These last-minute get-out-the-vote efforts come as Democrats around the country push to keep control of state legislative chambers and try to flip a few statehouses that Republicans hold by just a few seats.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the arm of the national Democratic party that works on statehouse races across the country, has spent $500,000 on Minnesota races this year, including House races and the state Senate contest.
