Mike Longaecker
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Mike Longaecker is the regional public safety reporter for RiverTown Multimedia. His coverage area spans St. Croix and Pierce counties. Longaecker served from 2011-2015 as editor of the Woodbury Bulletin. A University of Wisconsin-River Falls graduate, Longaecker previously reported for the Red Wing Republican Eagle and for the Forum Communications Minnesota Capitol Bureau. You can follow him on Twitter at @Longaecker
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- 5 years 8 months
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A roofer fatally attacked a coworker at a River Falls-area job site with a saw, authorities said Tuesday. The Pierce County Sheriff's Office said a 37-year-old man died at the scene and a 24-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of first-degree intentional homicide. The deceased was identified as St. Louis, Mo., resident Israel Valles-Flores.
An anonymous tip led to the discovery of several ounces of methamphetamine and syringes loaded with heroin last week during a St. Croix County traffic stop. The incident led to three arrests, including a Twin Cities man who told authorities the drugs belonged to him, according to court documents. That man, Oakdale resident Daniel J. Moser, 37, was charged in St. Croix County Circuit Court with methamphetamine possession with intent to deliver and heroin possession with intent to deliver.
A boating-while-intoxicated case escalated to felony-level charges last week after a 60-year-old Twin Cities man plunged into the St. Croix River, where he allegedly battled police who attempted to apprehend him. The Cottage Grove, Minn., man, who stripped out of his clothing and a life vest during the alleged July 31 confrontation, was later charged with three felony battery counts — one for each of the Hudson police officers prosecutors say he struck. Prosecutors also charged Jerome L. Seipel with three counts of misdemeanor resisting an officer.
STILLWATER — Data from the cellphone of a North Hudson man involved in a fatal crash will be reviewed before his trial next year — nearly three years after the collision that claimed the life of a Hudson mother. According to Minnesota court records in Washington County, prosecutors and lawyers for 22-year-old Drew Fleming will now be able to utilize data from the phone he had with him at the time of the crash that killed Megan Goeltz, who was pregnant at the time of incident.
A Minnesota man had gotten off with a fireworks warning on the Fourth of July in Hudson until he allegedly went after the people who called to complain about him and launched a firework at their car. According to a criminal complaint, an officer responding to the scene had to slam the brakes of his police cruiser “as firecrackers began exploding under the front of my squad” moments before getting out to arrest the suspect.
Hudson residents can expect to see more water at Lakefront Park, but officials said flooding was not predicted as of Tuesday. St. Croix County Emergency Support Services Director Steve T’Kach said the St. Croix River was expected to reach 84.1 feet by Saturday, June 23. The river was at 81.5 feet in nearby Stillwater as of 11 a.m. Tuesday; the seawall at Hudson’s Lakefront Park floods at 80 feet.
The former owner of a Hudson craft brewery is suing the Twin Cities business that acquired it in 2015, alleging it’s not abiding an agreement reached during the sale. The case was filed May 29 in St. Croix County Circuit Court.
The Red Wing man and Ellsworth woman sought in a western Wisconsin shooting case were arrested in Barron County, authorities announced Thursday. A post on the Barron County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page said the suspects, previously identified as Red Wing resident Shawn Goplen and Ellsworth resident Kari Blank, where taken into custody at the Rice Lake Dollar General store.
A former Hudson dentist's legal troubles intensified last week when a malpractice suit was filed against him in Minnesota. Andy Mancini, the Woodbury man who operated Hudson-based La Petite Dentistry until it closed in April, is being sued in Washington County District Court by two St. Croix County women who allege he was negligent in his services for their children. The suit, brought by Hudson resident Rebecca Viebrock and New Richmond resident Lisa Vansomeren on behalf of their children, names Mancini, La Petite and Figero Crowns as defendants in the case.
A simple misinterpretation might well be the difference between justice being served and an unsolved murder that's vexed St. Croix County investigators for 25 years. Perhaps the biggest obstacle to solving the April 25, 1993, shooting death of William "Junior" Clapp came when it was reported as a medical call. St. Croix County Sheriff's Office investigator Cary Rose said the man who discovered Clapp in his town of Warren home told dispatchers what he observed at the time — that his friend had injured his head.