Faribault man charged with criminal sexual conduct with a child
A Faribault man is charged with 3 felonies involving criminal sexual conduct with a child. According to the criminal complaint, 25 year old Richard George Meza, is accused of multiple incidents of soliciting, touching and penetrating at least 3 children under the age of 13. The 
complaint, heavily redacted, indicates that Meza sometimes babysat these children and is somehow related to them. Law enforcement was alerted when one of the children made a remark to her father. He questioned his child further and contacted police on August 2nd. The detective contacted Rice County Social Services who discovered there were more victims and that Meza reportedly admitted to a 3rd party that he had sexually abused 2 of the children and that his mother and sister were aware of it. On August
8th, one of the children was examined and detectives interviewed family members and Meza. He has been charged with solicitation of children to engage in sexual conduct and 2 counts of First Degree criminal sexual conduct with a child under 13. The most serious charge carries a presumptive commitment of 144 months, not more than 30 years in prison, $40,000 fine or both. His bail has been set at $500,000 with conditions. His court appearance is scheduled for August 24th. Meza REDACTED COMPLAINT
NAFRS Board approves fire facility location and upgrade $
After some discussion and an amendment, the NAFRS joint powers board voted unanimously to approve a resolution to make a recommendation that the fire facility remain in it’s current location and that the budget would be $3.5 million for an upgrade of the building in 2018. Architect Dave Medin and Engineer Steve Underdahl assured Mayor Glenn Switzer that there would be nothing in the basement level where, currently, the mechanical and electrical boxes are located. Medin said all the old equipment is going and the mechanics will be moved. There will be nothing below flood level other than space. Northfield Administrator Ben Martig said Building official Jim Kessler has okayed the plans. Switzer suggested taking out 2 items in the resolution that involved transferring ownership of the building and Northfield’s method of financing, saying those are separate issues. Graham agreed and made the motion to amend the resolution, Switzer seconded that and the motion passed unanimously. Next up will be approval from Dundas and Northfield City Councils.
Downtown Tobacco smokeless for a week
By City Ordinance, Downtown Tobacco, must provide video to police if there is a concern on an incident. There was an incident involving an underage person using a parent’s credit card to purchase tobacco and Northfield police requested the video, which they were unable to provide. Mayor Graham said the store owners didn’t argue the required 7 day suspension of their tobacco license but rather asked if they could stagger the days over a 3 week period. Citing history and consistency, Council said, “no, your’e license will be suspended from August 14th through the 21st”. Councilor Ludescher recused himself as his firm is representing the tobacco shop owners.
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