The Official Newspaper for Foster County

Around the State: January 23, 2023

The counties and cities within the state of North Dakota hold many interesting news stories.

Here are just a few of the feature stories that others are reading in communities around the state.

Sledge sentenced for trafficking opioids

United States Attorney Mac Schneider announced that on January 6, 2023, Unites States District Judge Daniel L. Hovland sentenced 32-year-old Darius Sledge, a.k.a. Ace, Man Man, Frank Love, Gary or Bill, to serve 30 years in prison followed by three years supervised release.

In June of 2022, following a 12-day trial, a jury returned guilty verdicts on multiple counts against Sledge and another man from Detroit, Michigan, for their leadership in a drug trafficking organization targeting three of North Dakota’s Native American Reservations.

Darius Sledge was convicted of Continuing Criminal Enterprise, Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute a Controlled substance, Money Laundering Conspiracy, and Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise. Sledge also forfeited his rights to more than $20,000 in seized United States currency.

This case is part of “Operation Blue Prairie,” and Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation into multi-state trafficking of oxycodone.

(Story taken from the New Rockford Transcript)

Ten year sentences for beating death

A federal judge has sentenced a man to 10 years in prison in connection with a death on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Another man was sentenced to 10 years earlier for his involvement in the 2021 beating death of Valentino White Jr.

Edward Finley Jr. pleaded guilty in September to voluntary manslaughter. U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor sentenced him Wednesday. A charge of second-degree murder was dismissed.

According to an FBI affidavit, Finely and Kenneth Grady caused the death of Valentino White Jr. in October 2021 by punching and kicking him at a residence in New Town. The affidavit said Finley and Grady are members of the Three Affiliated Tribes, which is located on the reservation.

White at one point allegedly was upset with another man and pulled a knife, according to the affidavit. Later, Finley allegedly punched White and knocked him off a chair and when White tried to fight back, witnesses said Finley and Grady punched and kicked him in the head during the altercation.

Grady pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in September and was sentenced to 10 years in prison as well.

(Story taken from the New Town News)

Therapy dog at Hillsboro High School

Levi Reese thought introducing a therapy dog into his classroom at Hillsboro High School would be a good way to provide emotional support to kids who were having a bad day.

The Hillsboro vo-ag teacher didn’t realize the impact that training and owning a therapy dog, and bringing her to school five days a week, would have on him personally.

“It changed me. I had another staff member tell me that I seem happier,” Reese said.

“Who wouldn’t love having their dog with them all day, every day, at school?”

It’s been slightly more than a year since Reese picked up a four-month-old puppy from a breeder in Wisconsin and introduced the fluffball to his students in Hillsboro.

Reese stood in front of the Hillsboro School Board and school administrators 14 months ago and convinced school officials that the district would benefit from having a certified therapy dog.

More than a year later, Reese continues to field calls from schools in North Dakota and South Dakota and as far away as Georgia, asking how they can follow in Maura’s furry footsteps.

The pair arrive at the school in the morning and Reese takes Maura for a quick walk around the school, often stopping to visit with teachers and students.

“Teachers need those visits as badly as the kids do,” Reese said.

“It’s surprised me how much people like to see her,” Reese said.

The atmosphere at school has changed. Kids run up to Maura excited to see her and I’ll see that same reaction when I’m driving bus and she tags along with me.

“I have learned that she’s probably more important around here than I am,” Reese said with a laugh.

(Story by Cole Short, the Hillsboro Banner)

Continuance delays court for suspect

A Minnesota man is accused of leaving a Fessenden woman trapped in her car overnight, cutting off her vehicle’s catalytic converter, breaking into her home and stealing her credit cards, jewelry, cash and other items. This bizarre case happened 14 months ago on November 28, 2021.

Jordan Jeffrey Juneau, 35, from St. Hilaire, Minn., appeared at his pretrial conference via Zoom from Stutsman County, North Dakota where he had been transferred from Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater. He faces charges of attempted murder, robbery and burglary.

District Judge James D. Hovey said a new preliminary hearing, the final continuance, was scheduled for February 8. A felony jury trial has been scheduled for March 13 to 17 at the Wells County Courthouse.

According to court documents, on Nov. 28, 2021, at 8:52 a.m., the Wells County Sheriff’s department responded to an injury crash on a gravel road near Hillside Cemetery west of Fessenden.

They found Vicki Durick trapped inside the vehicle. Court records say she had been trapped in the vehicle since about 8 p.m. the night before. She was hypothermic with a body temperature of 70 degrees.

Court records state that Durck told law enforcement she was traveling on 17th Street NE just west of Fessenden when another vehicle was in her lane of travel causing her vehicle to roll over.

Firefighters on the scene noted that the vehicle’s catalytic converter had been cut from the crashed vehicle.

Records state that Durick’s credit cards were used on Nov. 28 in Carrington and Jamestown and on Dec. 1 in Minot. Surveillance images from businesses where the cards were used revealed that the cards were used by a man and woman who were driving a Dodge Ram pickup stolen from Jamestown.

On Dec. 3, surveillance video and investigation revealed that Juneau was one of the users of the credit cards.

Cellular phone location strategies helped trace Juneau to Bagley Minn., where a police pursuit to execute a search warrant resulted in Juneau fleeing. On Dec. 5 he was located in Marshall County, Minn., but the pursuit was delayed for safety purposes.

A day later, Juneau was found in a vehicle on the side of a road during a blizzard. Juneau ran into the blizzard and escaped again.

On Dec. 10, Juneau was arrested in Thief River Falls, Minn.

(Story by Anne Ehni, the Herald-Press, Harvey)