A Rice County Jury late yesterday convicted a local man of receiving stolen property. 43 year old Paul Scott Seeman of Cannon City Township, was convicted last September in two separate trials of Cattle Rustling, Perjury, and Theft. The current conviction involved a stolen trailer from Montana, found on his property. The VIN number had been partially removed. The case was investigated by the Rice County Sheriff’s Office. Seeman still faces trial on an additional 27 counts of Theft offenses and a count of Racketeering dating back to 2014. Although he’s been convicted of four felonies, MN Sentencing Guidelines do not require prison until he has another conviction. If convicted of the remaining counts, Seeman could receive 10 years in
prison. Rice County Attorney John Fossum said, “The deputies and the lawyers did a great job of getting the proper evidence before the jury,”. They will continue to pursue the prosecution of Seeman and seek restitution for his victims. Seeman has a lengthy criminal history dating back over 20 years.
Longtime Northfield veterinarian gives up license
Longtime Northfield veterinarian, Dr. David Garlie, has voluntarily given up his license to practice, according to the Minnesota Board of Veterinary Medicine. An investigation into his practice began last October. He met with the Board’s Review Committee on December 22nd, where he waived his right to legal counsel. According to the report, Garlie failed to provide adequate care on several occasions. An inspection in October revealed an unclean workspace and in need of repair. On February 28th, Garlie acknowledged all of it, surrendered his license and waived any other hearings. I spoke with his son, Matt, this morning who said his dad has retired. Garlie is 77. The business is closed as they transition to new owner Dr. Elias Dahmeh. Dahmeh was not reachable at this time. Local farmers have relied on Dr. Garlie for 52 years.
Steve’s Law/anonymous tips/public lead to arrests
Last week, 3 Northfielders overdosed on fake oxycodone pills that were actually carfentanil, an elephant tranquilizer, and cocaine. All were revived with multiple doses of nalaxone aka narcan. Police Chief Monte Nelson says, the scary thing is, “most of the time, the people buying the drug think they’re buying something else. Whether you’re buying powdered heroin on the street, that’s a huge drug trade, huge, it has not reduced at all, you don’t know what’s in it and unfortunately right now, the trend is carfentanil is getting added into heroin”. EMS Director Brian Edwards added, “so just a few micrograms of carfentanil can be fatal”. Nelson says no one knows how much of this stuff is out there. Law enforcement has no test kit for the drug like they do with cocaine, heroin, morphine and methamphetamine. Often the chemical makeup of these drugs changes quickly. He said, “you’re fighting a real uphill battle because you don’t even know what it’s in. We have tons of heroin coming across the border of year and we have no idea how much of it is has fentanil or carfentanil or some other substance”. Nelson said Steve’s Law makes it easy to call 911 if someone you’re with is overdosing. Stay on the scene, “and help the authorities. Let us know what the person took. You’re not going to be prosecuted because of Steve’s Law. We will ask for cooperation. In this case, that was a big part of why we were successful. We had people from anonymous tips, other people contact us with other information on this case that helped us track backwards where the drugs came from”. 22 year old Joshua Tarka of Northfield and 19 year old Joshua Chlan of Mankato have been charged in the case and remain jailed.
