Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis crews rewire 700 streetlights with aluminum in effort to stop copper theft
Minneapolis is shining brighter this spring. Crews have spent the last year fixing more than 700 broken streetlights.
For years, the sight of a dark streetlight was all too common in the city. Thieves stole the copper wire inside them for scrap metal money.
“It’s crazy. It just blows my mind,” Minneapolis resident Amanda Olson said.
Scrappers, at one point, took out lights near Olson’s south Minneapolis home. She said the theft happened nearly six times.
Olson added that when the lights were out, cars on the street would be broken into. She said the safety concerns are why neighbors pushed for the lights to be turned back on as soon as possible.
City officials said, in total, they’ve swapped 700 lights from copper wiring to aluminum. Olson said she isn’t sold on the effort.
“If someone’s going to steal something, they’re going to steal it regardless of what kind of material it is. That’s just how I feel about it anyways,” she said.
Minneapolis leaders say most of the lights that have been replaced across the city are along parkways and that a small number still need to be fixed.
Minneapolis, MN
Final defendant sentenced in smuggling ring that mailed fentanyl to the Twin Cities in stuffed animals
All nine defendants have now been sentenced in federal court for their roles in a drug smuggling ring that mailed a record number of fentanyl pills from Arizona to the Twin Cities hidden in stuffed animals.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan gave Stardasha Christina Davenport-Mounger, 26, of Minneapolis, a one-year prison term last week after she previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute the drug from August 2022 to February 2023.
The others, all from either St. Paul or Minneapolis, were also indicted and sentenced on the same charge following the early 2023 seizure of two packages with 280,000 fentanyl pills that were sent through the U.S. Postal Service from Phoenix to the Twin Cities metro area.
Authorities called the seizure, which amounted to over 67 pounds with an estimated value of more than $2.2 million, the largest ever in Minnesota. Just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can kill a person, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Davenport-Mounger’s sentence, which includes three years of supervised release after incarceration, was a variance from the federal advisory guidelines, which called for her to spend between 121 and 151 months in prison. Federal prosecutor Campbell Warner asked for 121 months, while defense attorney Ira Whitlock asked for a downward departure or variance.
Davenport-Mounger and several of her co-defendants traveled to Phoenix to buy fentanyl from a supplier. They hid the pills inside large stuffed animals, putting them in boxes lined with dog treat bags, “presumably to prevent a drug-sniffing dog from alerting them,” court documents said. They wrapped the packages to resemble birthday presents and mailed them to the Twin Cities.
“Unfortunately, police did not catch every package, meaning kilograms of pills made their way to the Twin Cities and were distributed to others,” Warner wrote in a presentencing memo.
Although Davenport-Mounger did not play a leadership role in the conspiracy, she was also not a minor participant, Warner said. Her latent prints were recovered from all the seized packages, meaning she flew to Phoenix at least twice as part of the conspiracy.
Whitlock called Davenport-Mounger a “minor participant” in the case who “followed the directions of her lover and co-defendant (Cornell Montez Chandler Jr.).”
Chandler, 27, of St. Paul, who authorities say was the ringleader of the group, was the first to admit to the charge in November 2024 and was sentenced to a prison term that topped 13 years. He was also given five years of post-incarceration supervised release.
Four of the defendants were sentenced last year to 10 years in prison and five years of supervised release: Quijuan Hosea Bankhead, 32, of St. Paul, Da’Shawn Natori Domena, 26, of Minneapolis, Fo’Tre Devine White, 32, of St. Paul, and Robiel Lee Williams, 26, of St. Paul.
Two others were also sentenced last year: Shardai Rayshell Allen, 27, of Minneapolis, who was given no additional time beyond what she had already served in custody after her arrest, plus three years’ supervised release, and Phyu Win Jame, 29, of Minneapolis, who received a two-year prison term, followed by four years of supervised release.
In February, Amaya Tiffany-Nicole Mims, 25, of St. Paul, was given a 1 ½-year prison term and four years of supervised release.
Minnesota is investing nearly $5 million to expand E15 availability, a blend of gasoline with up to 15% ethanol, while federal rules and carmaker guidance limit its use. FOX 9’s Corin Hoggard details what you need to keep in mind before making the switch.
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