A Faribault man pled guilty yesterday to 2nd degree criminal sexual conduct. 40 year old Ryan Sheridan Fuller was placed under arrest after a complaint accusing him of molesting a girl under 13. The heavily redacted complaint states that Fuller was extremely intoxicated and the child had been sleeping in a bed in the home when he laid down with her. She kicked and screamed as he assaulted her, then called her mother to pick her up. There were others in the home at the time. Fuller’s blood alcohol level was .30, nearly 4 times the legal amount. Fuller was charged with 1st degree criminal sexual misconduct
and was facing up to 30 years in prison. With his plea yesterday, he’ll get 74 months or 6 years. Sentencing is set for August 1st. REDACTED COMPLAINT – Fuller
Man gets 12 years for violent beating
Rice County Judge Thomas Neuville yesterday sentenced 41 year old Todd Allen Wenner to 12 years in prison for 1st degree assault. Rice County Attorney John Fossum said Wenner beat his victim around the head with his steel-toed boots. The victim was airlifted to HCMC with an intracranial hemorrhage and other injuries. The violent assault took place on January 31st after Wenner lost his temper. Wenner’s lengthy criminal history, dating back to the early ‘90’s, led to the jail sentence. Fossum said he’s the kind of person that prison is necessary for. He said we have to take him out of the community to make the rest of us safe. He added that the work of the Faribault Police Department led to a speedy resolution and arrest of Todd Wenner. Fossum prosecuted the case. Wenner complaint
Council votes for 2 time extensions as they debate Charter controversy
The Northfield City Council voted to extend last night’s meeting – twice. The controversy over two Charter Commission appointments led to an additional 40 minutes of discussion that really just aired some accusations from both sides. Three applicants applied for 2 seats, 2 of them sent directly to the Judge AFTER there had been no action from the Charter Chair for 3 months. The Judge appointed Judith Schotzko and Greg Colby. Chair Ludescher won’t recognize them because, he says, they didn’t follow the Charter when submitted to the Judge themselves. Judge Thompson reviewed Ludescher appeal and Administrator Martig read his reply, “at this time I am not inclined to rescind my initial order. If you have any further information that would convince me that a new or amended order is needed you’re certainly welcome to submit that information. Unless I’m convinced that my initial ordinance was erroneous my order will stand”. The discussion went back and forth with public comment and veiled innuendos of misconduct on both sides. Martig has been in talks with Ludescher and fellow Commissioner Lance Heisler to work for a solution. Mayor Pownell said a couple of her colleagues wanted it on the agenda for public discussion. Martig said this morning, “to me if we simply follow the literal provision of the Charter to simply take eligible nominees and submit them along in an open, transparent way and an efficient manner to the Chief District Judge, from my standpoint, I don’t think there’s really any disagreement if we just simply follow that process”. He’s optimistic the situation can be resolved, but he may be alone on this one. The 2 seats are fill-ins that expire at the end of the year. Then the process will start all over again. If the two sides can’t come together, this will be back on the Council agenda in July. As always, the meetings are streamed live on the City’s website and archived later. You can also comment now online. First, go to ci.northfield.mn.us Hover over Government and click on City Council then scroll down to Watch A Meeting and click on that. THEN, a calendar will pop up. Click on the date of the meeting you want to watch. For instance last night’s. From there you’ll see Agenda, Video, eComments, etc. eComments are available for each agenda item when it is first released (usually Thursday afternoon) and up to noon the day of the meeting. Many of you commented to me at the meeting that you couldn’t find the agenda… it’s not intuitive. Hope this helps.
