Minnesota
One convicted of aiding murder in Morton, Minnesota, woman's overdose death
OLIVIA
— One of the three men criminally charged in connection to the overdose death of a
Morton,
Minnesota, woman last fall has pleaded guilty and will serve prison time.
Daniel Ortiz, 31, of
St. Paul,
pleaded guilty in June to aiding and abetting murder in the third degree. According to the plea petition filed in Renville County District Court, Ortiz agreed to provide truthful testimony in the trials of co-defendants Joshua Lee Hill, of Shakopee, and Eugene Damario Tate, of Minneapolis.
In exchange for his plea, attorneys agreed Ortiz would be sentenced to a downward durational departure of 36 months in prison. According to the departure report filed by the judge, the crime was less onerous than usual — Ortiz did not actually sell the drugs to the woman — and the prosecutor and family of the woman were in agreement with the lesser sentence.
Lead prosecutor Kelsie Kingstrom noted for the record that the Renville County Attorney’s Office had numerous conversations with the woman’s family and that they had no objection to the recommendation, according to a court transcript.
Judge Thomas Van Hon sentenced Ortiz on Sept. 11 to 36 months of prison with credit for 133 days served. Ortiz is currently incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in St. Cloud. According to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, he is expected to be released on May 4, 2026.
Contributed / Minnesota Department of Corrections
According to the criminal complaint, law enforcement responded Oct. 25, 2023, to a residence in Morton on the report of an unresponsive female. A sheriff’s deputy arrived but determined the female to be deceased. A piece of tinfoil with black residue, a metal pipe and lighter were also located nearby.
A family member of the woman spoke with law enforcement later the same day. According to the complaint, the family member reported they had found additional drug paraphernalia, including a folded piece of paper that contained a white substance, which later field tested presumptive positive for fentanyl.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid drug approved for prescription use as a pain reliever and anesthetic. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, it is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as a pain relieve.
According to the criminal complaint, the woman had a history of drug use and had recently relapsed. Another witness told police that she and a second witness had recently driven the woman to the Minneapolis area to pick up drugs days before she was found unresponsive.
At the plea hearing on June 24, 2024, Ortiz admitted to helping facilitate a drug sale between the woman and Tate, who allegedly sold the fentanyl found in the woman’s residence.
According to the court transcript, the woman had contacted Ortiz stating she wanted to buy fentanyl. Ortiz then contacted Tate, whom he knew by another name, and acted as the main line of communication between the woman and Tate to arrange a drug purchase.
The complaint states that the woman had initially reached out to Hill to arrange a drug purchase. Hill then contacted Ortiz once she said she was seeking to purchase two grams of fentanyl.
Ortiz also stated that he was present when the drug purchase in Minneapolis occurred. Ortiz said he was going to be the person to give the fentanyl to the woman, but Tate had changed his mind. Ortiz said Tate decided to do the sale himself after the woman had texted Ortiz that she had arrived at the agreed upon location.
An autopsy report from the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office determined the woman’s death was caused by toxic effects of fentanyl. Drug toxicology results from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension found the substance located in the woman’s room was confirmed to be fentanyl, weighing about 1.24 grams.
Criminal proceedings are continuing against the other two suspects.
Hill is also charged with aiding and abetting third-degree murder. He was booked into the Renville County Jail on March 17, 2024, and has remained in custody since his arrest. Bail was set at $500,000 without conditions or $250,000 with conditions that include GPS monitoring.
Court records show his next pretrial date has been set for April 10, 2025.
Tate is charged with third-degree murder via selling/distributing controlled substances. He posted a $100,000 bond in March and was released with conditions, including that he participate in a pretrial supervision program.
Through his attorney, Tate filed a motion Sept. 30 to suppress evidence. He argues that warrants used to obtain his Facebook/Meta data did not meet the standard to sufficiently link him as the owner of the accounts or that he was the one using the accounts during referenced time frames in the criminal complaints.
The court took the matter under advisement, and no additional hearings in the case have yet been scheduled, according to online court records.
The National Weather Service confirmed that at least five tornadoes touched down in southeastern Minnesota on Friday, including four that hit Olmsted County. At least another three twisters were confirmed in southwestern Wisconsin.
The NWS was still analyzing data and other information to determine if more tornadoes occurred in the area.
The storms started Friday afternoon, with the first tornado touching down north of Sargeant in Mower County around 1:45 p.m. The short-lived EF0, with top wind speeds of 80 mph, traveled about 3 miles northeast into rural Dodge County near the unincorporated town of Oslo. It lasted for about five minutes in total, the weather service says, and caused minor damage to a grain silo before dissipating.
A new tornado formed a few minutes later, less than a mile away south of Oslo. The storm was also considered an EF0, with wind speeds around 80 mph. Lasting less than 10 minutes, it traveled 4 miles into Olmsted County, causing light damage to farm outbuildings and trees.
The line of storms seemed to pick up intensity as it entered Olmsted County.
Around 2:17 p.m., the EF2 tornado that would later hit Marion Township first touched down just northeast of Stewartville. The weather service estimates that the twister had wind speeds of about 130 mph and traveled nearly 10 miles northeast, before dissipating around 2:31 p.m. Multiple homes were severely damaged with roof removal and partially collapsed exterior walls.
An EF1 tornado was also confirmed to have hit near Potsdam around 2:30 p.m.
The first portion of the tornado was weak, the weather service said, with mainly EF0 damage. On the second portion of the 12-mile track, the tornado intensified to produce approximately 100 mph winds with tree and farm outbuilding damage. It lifted around 2:54 p.m.
A second EF2 tornado was confirmed in Olmsted County around 2:46 p.m. about 5 miles east-northeast of Viola and traveled about 7.5 miles, ending in Wabasha County, a few miles south of Plainview, around 3 p.m. Maximum wind speeds were around 125 mph. The storm affected mainly rural areas and damaged trees and outbuildings. One farmhouse lost a roof and a garage roof, the weather service said.
No injuries were reported in the Minnesota-Wisconsin outbreak.
Friday was a historic day for the NWS La Crosse office, which issued 26 tornado warnings – the most for any one day since the office opened in 1995.
Minnesota
Minneapolis city leaders say law enforcement, community members making Uptown safer, but more must be done
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Police Chief Brian O’Hara and other city leaders outlined ongoing efforts to improve safety and livability in the city’s Uptown neighborhood during a news conference Tuesday morning.
The discussion focused on a series of public safety initiatives, including expanded patrols by the Minneapolis Police Department and the planned growth of the city’s Community Safety Ambassador Program in Uptown.
That program is already in place elsewhere in south Minneapolis, on East Lake Street and Franklin Avenue. Officials said Tuesday it will come to Uptown in November. One dispatcher and up to eight ambassadors will be available to perform safety escorts, wellness checks, first aid and more.
Officials say efforts to increase safety in the area have been ongoing since December, when dedicated police patrols were introduced.
“Uptown is experiencing a comeback, but we need to be doing the work to make sure that it happens faster. We’ve all got these beautiful, nostalgic memories about what Uptown was six, seven, eight years ago. Twenty years ago,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said. “What’s certain is the Uptown of the future is going to be dramatically different than the Uptown of the past.”
In March, dozens of people lined up for a community meeting discussing safety and livability concerns in the Uptown neighborhood. Data from the city shows there are more assaults, car thefts, robberies and calls for gunshots in the neighborhood compared to the same time last year. Community members, business owners and others have come together to launch community initiatives — like United Uptown — to get the area back on track.
Leaders describe the city’s approach as a coordinated strategy that combines public safety resources, infrastructure investments and partnerships with community organizations. City Council member Elizabeth Shaffer said the goal is “an Uptown that is safe, welcoming and enjoyable for everyone.”
Frey, O’Hara and Shaffer all highlighted drug use as a serious problem in the area. Shaffer and Frey said law enforcement has been helpful in curbing the issue, but more needs to be done.
“We need to be stepping up to be honest about it, to do something about it, to provide the supports for people who need it and yes, also make sure that we’re enforcing the law,” Frey said. “That’s part of the comeback that we’re going to see in Uptown.”
Minneapolis police suspect a driver was under the influence when he hit and killed a bicyclist on the city’s southside early Monday morning.
Officers responded to the crash at the intersection of Hiawatha Avenue and East 35th Street around 3 a.m., according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
Upon arrival, police found a man in his 50s suffering from apparent life-threatening injuries. Officers provided immediate medical aid, including CPR, before the man was transported to Hennepin Healthcare, where he later died.
The Minneapolis Police Department says that preliminary information indicates the driver, a 23-year-old man, had been traveling south on Hiawatha Avenue in a Ford Edge when he struck the bicyclist.
Officers arrested the driver and took him to the hospital, where police say “a search warrant for evidence collection was carried out.” Police later booked the driver into Hennepin County Jail on suspicion of criminal vehicular homicide.
The incident is still under investigation.
-
Seattle, WA5 minutes agoBrock: 2 drafts fits at edge rusher for Seattle Seahawks
-
San Diego, CA11 minutes agoJoseph Allen Oviatt – San Diego Union-Tribune
-
Milwaukee, WI17 minutes agoMilwaukee Brewers overpower Detroit Tigers to win 12-4
-
Atlanta, GA23 minutes agoWhat this food hall could mean for a south Atlanta neighborhood
-
Minneapolis, MN29 minutes agoEllison, Minneapolis, St. Paul update lawsuit against Operation Metro Surge with new data
-
Indianapolis, IN35 minutes agoIndianapolis, Carmel area fails air pollution measures in new report
-
Pittsburg, PA41 minutes agoCallie DiSabato: Unregulated short-term rentals hurt Pittsburgh
-
Augusta, GA47 minutes agoAttention, shoppers: Augusta-area Walmarts to be remodeled in 2026