Mike Longaecker
Primary tabs
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
Contact Email
History
- Member for
- 5 years 5 months
Author Content
Customer complaints led to criminal charges May 8 for a 31-year-old Minnesota man accused of bilking the elderly out of snow-removal payments in Minnesota, Wisconsin and seven other states. The Wisconsin justice department announced five theft charges — two felonies and three misdemeanors — against Matthew D. Erickson, the owner of Snow Angels LLC. Erickson ran an unsuccessful 2016 GOP bid for Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District.
A Minnesota man was hospitalized Tuesday night after he jumped from the Arcola High Bridge in rural Somerset. St. Croix County Sheriff Scott Knudson said the man, a 22-year-old Roseville resident, survived the 165-foot fall, and was rescued by authorities before being airlifted to Regions Hospital in St. Paul.
A state agency was investigating multiple cases involving a former Hudson pediatric dentist until he surrendered his license to practice last month. Documents obtained through a RiverTown Multimedia records request show Dr. Andy Mancini was being investigated in seven different cases by the state's Department of Safety and Professional Services. The allegations included multiple violations of unprofessional conduct under Wisconsin's administrative code.
A Woodbury man who billed himself as Hudson's top-rated children's dentist has closed his practice while criminal and civil cases make their way through two Wisconsin counties. An outgoing voice message at La Petite Dentistry states the Carmichael Road office is "permanently closed." The practice was owned by Dr. Andy Mancini, a Woodbury resident who faces four misdemeanor charges and has sued his accuser for other allegations she has made against him.
Incidents on bridges connecting St. Croix County with Minnesota left two people dead over the past week. Both deaths were believed to be suicides. The most recent incident occurred the morning of Monday, April 9, when a motorist witnessed a man jump from the St. Croix River Crossing. Authorities recovered his body in the St. Croix River. Washington (Minn.) County Sheriff's Office Cmdr. confirmed the man, a Stillwater resident in his 60s, was found dead on the north side of the bridge.
Authorities said it took a costume, a comment and a cast of accomplices to pull off a con that fleeced Walmart out of thousands of dollars at various stores in western Wisconsin and Minnesota. According to court documents, the main suspect would enter a Walmart clad in a former employee's vest, then approach a cashier, who would be told it was breaktime. From there, the suspect would open up the cash register to allow a string of accomplices to buy thousands of dollars in gift cards. And then, according to authorities, it was off to the next store.
HUDSON — Authorities said a two-day sting last week led to the rescue of human trafficking victims and would-be prostitution customers in St. Croix County. The operation was timed months in advance to coincide with the Super Bowl, occurring in Minneapolis — just a half hour’s drive from Hudson, where state, county and local authorities launched one arm of a two-pronged sting.
A North Hudson coin transport business was targeted by current and former employees who made off with more than $30,000 in currency, according to charges filed last week in St. Croix County Circuit Court. The alleged thefts were uncovered after a routine traffic stop in Hudson that snowballed into a multi-suspect investigation as coin boxes, surveillance video and interviews surfaced, according to charges filed in the ongoing case.
An east metro man was killed Monday when the vehicle he was driving crashed into a St. Croix County bridge abutment. The Wisconsin State Patrol identified the driver as 46-year-old Lake Elmo resident Derek S. Baker. Troopers were called at 10:19 a.m. Jan. 29 to eastbound Interstate 94 near Baldwin for the single-vehicle crash. The State Patrol said the vehicle left the road, entered the median and struck the bridge structure.
STILLWATER — A Minnesota judge didn't doubt the the progress a confessed drug dealer had made in treatment, but said those steps weren't enough to avert a prison sentence. Washington County District Court Judge John McBride sentenced Karl R. Heinrichs on Monday, Dec. 4, to six years in prison — four of which must be spent behind bars. The Stillwater man, arrested last year after a sting that involved both Minnesota and Wisconsin authorities, pleaded guilty in June to second-degree drug sales.