A Northfield man has been charged with three counts of misdemeanor Domestic Assault and one count of Malicious Punishment of a Child, stemming from the athletic performance of a minor.
Jesse Graber, age 48, of Northfield, faces six misdemeanor charges related to two separate incidents in which he allegedly abused an 18-year-old with an electrical cord and a child with a belt.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Dakota County, an 18-year-old accuser told police in October that Graber had whipped him with a vacuum cord for an extended amount of time. Published reports said police documented many marks on his body, and a large area of buttocks that “looked raw with missing skin.”
A second complaint that was filed this past February said Dakota County Deputies received a report that Graber had abused a child by hitting them with a belt. Court documents said the victim told investigators that Graber was upset with their performance in a wrestling match.
The child told investigators that they would enjoy sports more if they did not have to worry that they would be disciplined for not performing well.
Graber has also been charged with two counts of violating a no-contact order after it was reported that he was virtually ignoring the order, routinely violating it, and intimidating his victims to the point where they were too afraid of retaliation to report the violation.
Graber was charged and taken into custody on Wednesday. He was released after posting bail at $5000. His next court date is set for next Wednesday, the 24th, in Hastings.
Elliott says number of applicants for Chief position could be smaller
Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott has announced that he will retire at the end of September. Throughout his tenure as Chief, Elliott has been transparent about his career timeline, even discussing his plan to call it a career in 2024 when he went through the Chief hiring process in 2020.
He has, however, agreed to extend his career a few months longer than he had anticipated, in order to help the city through the process of hiring his replacement.
Law enforcement has become a more difficult job over the course of Elliott’s tenure. There are far fewer people entering the profession today, and Elliott said he does not expect the pool of prospects to take his job to be as deep as it would have been even a few years ago. He pointed to the recent job search for a new Chief of Police in Savage. Eight qualified candidates applied for the job, he said, where in years past that number would have been closer to eighty. Brooklyn Center has been advertising for a new Chief of Police with apparently no qualified candidates applying.
Elliott said he has prepared Northfield city staff and the City Council for a different experience than in previous years, but he also had some suggestions for them.
“I’m somewhat familiar with processes that were used in other places, and I gave them some suggestions on what I thought worked well for both recruitment and making sure that that we’re reaching out to appropriate places and making contacts with folks. Advertising in the right place where we’re going to find folks that are qualified.”
Another facet to the process, he said, will be involvement from the community. Plans are in place to ask people from the Northfield School District and non-profit organizations like Community Action Center and Healthy Community Initiative to participate. And with positive experiences in other projects, he said members of the general public will be asked to participate as well.
“Back in 2020, we rewrote and adopted a new policy manual, and we had community involvement on that. I led us through that, and it was really a great process. We got some great ideas, opinions, and perspectives from people in the community. So, we want to be sure we carry that into this as well.”
Chief Elliott said the job has been posted to the City of Northfield website. While he believes there are qualified internal candidates, he is unsure if anyone from within the department will apply. The application deadline is May 17th.
Jeff Johnson’s full conversation with Northfield Police Chief Mark Elliott can be heard here
Gonzalez-George first of incumbent School Board members to announce for re-election
The Chair of the Northfield School Board, Claudia Gonzalez-George, has announced that she will seek re-election to the board in November.
Gonzalez-George was elected to the board in the 2020 election, with the largest vote total of any of the School Board Candidates and was named Board Chair just two years later. She is a former educator, with three children who attended Northfield Schools, and is believed to be the first member of Northfield’s Latinx community to serve on the Board. Currently, Gonzalez-George is the executive assistant to St. Olaf College Provost Marci Sortor.
Gonzalez-George says that she prides herself on being dependable, honest, patient, and a problem solver, all traits that have served her well on the school board.
Her priorities as the board chair are students’ success not just in academics, but in extra-curricular activities and mental health as well. It is important, she said, that the board work collaboratively with Northfield Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matt Hillmann. She would also like to maintain a continual anti-racism effort. And, she said, she wants to keep her voice at the table influencing school culture for the students in the Northfield public schools and the school district community’s future.
“I care about our community’s children,” she said. “We are a community that values education and opportunity for all stakeholders.”
There will be four school board seats on the ballot in November. Gonzalez-George is the first incumbent to announce that she is running.
KYMN News 4/19/24
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
