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4 men charged with conspiracy alleging stolen oil in western North Dakota

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4 men charged with conspiracy alleging stolen oil in western North Dakota


4 males face conspiracy expenses in McKenzie County alleging they stole greater than $2.4 million value of crude oil over a interval of greater than a yr. 

Michael Garcia, Mark McGregor and Darrell Merrell, all of Watford Metropolis; and Joseph Vandewalker, of Arnegard, are every charged with felony counts of conspiracy to commit theft and dealing in stolen property.

Garcia is also charged with a felony rely of main a felony affiliation.

The McKenzie County Sheriff’s Workplace alleges in courtroom paperwork that Endeavor Crude truck drivers Merrell and Vandewalker skimmed oil they had been to dump at a Crestwood Midstream facility, reportedly by manipulating tools resembling switch pumps throughout their deliveries. 

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The 2 suspects allegedly saved the oil in two tanks on the so-called Little Knife Disposal south of Watford Metropolis, and later offloaded and offered the stolen oil they’re accused of skimming. 

The Oil & Gasoline Division of North Dakota’s Division of Mineral Sources has “no facility permits or something of the type on this space close to Watford Metropolis the place this allegedly passed off,” in response to Underground Injection Management and Treating Plant Supervisor Mark Bohrer.

Persons are additionally studying…

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The affidavit within the case reported 149 deliveries from Little Knife Disposal to the Crestwood facility from November 2020 to March 2022. Crestwood Midstream reported 34,199 barrels of crude oil obtained from Little Knife Disposal, value greater than $2.45 million, in response to the doc.

The fees additionally allege McGregor organized pickup dates and particulars for the oil and that Garcia is the “cash hyperlink” for promoting the oil and paying drivers.

Garcia informed investigators in April that skimming oil is “a typical apply out right here,” in response to the affidavit.

“There are numerous trucking firms out right here that skim oil, everyone does it, it is very straightforward, you possibly can manipulate the numbers,” Garcia mentioned, in response to the affidavit. 

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The investigation started after the sheriff’s workplace in March took a report of stolen crude oil from a former driver of the trucking firm.

Garcia and Merrell have pleaded not responsible, with a jury trial set for Nov. 14.

McGregor and Vandewalker have preliminary hearings/arraignments set for Sept. 1.

Attorneys for the 4 defendants didn’t reply to messages requesting remark.

McKenzie County State’s Lawyer Ty Skarda declined to touch upon the case, citing an ongoing investigation.

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North Dakota

Lawyers clash over claims that prosecutors concealed important evidence in 1986 North Dakota murder case

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Lawyers clash over claims that prosecutors concealed important evidence in 1986 North Dakota murder case


DEVILS LAKE, N.D. — Prosecutors told the lawyer of a man convicted of a brutal 1986 stabbing murder that all of the state’s evidence in the case against his client was available to the defense under his office’s “open file” policy.

Now, almost 40 years after the murder, lawyers for Werner Kunkel, who is serving a life sentence, are arguing that the prosecution concealed key evidence that could have established Kunkel’s innocence.

Todd Burianek, Kunkel’s trial lawyer, maintains in court papers that statements from three witnesses — if they had been made available to the defense — would have enabled him to better investigate and question the witnesses in the 1995 trial.

All three witnesses gave statements to the prosecution saying they had seen the murder victim in the case, Gilbert Fassett, alive after Aug. 1, 1986. The date is crucial because multiple trial witnesses testified that they last saw Fassett alive that night while drinking with Kunkel in Devils Lake bars.

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“As I looked into the case, I was focused on any evidence that might have suggested that Mr. Fassett was alive after August 1, 1986,” Burianek said in a sworn statement in support of Kunkel’s petition for relief, which if granted could result in a new trial or dismissal of the charge.

Burianek’s statement was filed May 23 in Ramsey County District Court along with a brief by his current defense lawyers, Dane DeKrey of Moorhead and James Mayer of the Great North Innocence Project in Minneapolis.

Kunkel, who after his conviction for Fassett’s murder changed his last name to Rümmer, is serving his life sentence at the James River Correctional Center in Jamestown. He was once granted parole on the condition that he be sent to Germany, where he was born and has citizenship, but the parole board rescinded the decision.

The Forum wrote about controversies in the case in a special series published in July 2024 titled

Who Killed Eddie & Gilbert?

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There were no eyewitnesses in the case. Kunkel’s conviction relied heavily on prison and jail informants — witnesses

Kunkel argued had ulterior motives for implicating him,

including lenient treatment for themselves or

settling a grudge against him.

Studies have shown that “jailhouse snitches” are often unreliable and their testimony has resulted in wrongful convictions.

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In his recent statement, Burianek said he made standard discovery requests seeking, among other things, all witness statements and “whatever potentially exculpatory evidence” was in the possession of prosecutors or investigators.

Burianek was given access to case documents in the Ramsey County State’s Attorney’s Office.

“It was represented to me that this was ‘open file’ discovery,” Burianek said in his statement. “In other words, based on our communication and common practices at the time, I expected that any potentially exculpatory evidence in the possession of the State’s Attorney or law enforcement would be contained in the field that the State’s Attorney permitted me to review.”

Exculpatory evidence is any information that helps prove a defendant’s innocence in a criminal case. Prosecutors have a duty to hand over to the defense any exculpatory evidence — even without being asked — under a landmark 1963 Supreme Court case, Brady v. Maryland, which established the Brady Rule.

Doug Broden, Rümmer’s lawyer in a 2006 appeal, also said he “believed in good faith” that all of the documents had been provided earlier to Burianek by the Ramsey County State’s Attorney’s Office under its Brady Rule obligations.

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The three witnesses, and other newly discovered exculpatory evidence, only became known after Kunkel’s current attorneys asked for and received the prosecution’s case file in 2023.

The Ramsey County Courthouse.

Contributed / North Dakota Court System

As previously reported by The Forum

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, one of the newly discovered witness statements came from a National Guard member, who told investigators he picked up Fassett on Aug. 2 — a day after jurors were told that Kunkel murdered the victim. The guardsman remembered the date because he had to fly out later that day for training, an obligation that was confirmed by Guard records.

“The state compensated for the lack of eyewitness testimony or physical evidence against Werner by repeating for the jury the mantra that no one saw Fassett alive after he was seen with Werner on the night of August 1, 1986,” his lawyers wrote in a brief.

The statements by “three different witnesses who independently reported seeing Fassett alive after that night, puts the lie to the state’s primary trial theme,” his lawyers added.

In response to defense allegations that the state concealed exculpatory evidence, Daniel Howell of the Ramsey County State’s Attorney’s Office denied that prosecutors suppressed evidence.

“While the State cannot claim that this evidence would not have had some benefit to Petitioner at trial, its overall effect on the result of trial would have been negligible in light of the other evidence presented at trial and would not have affected the verdict,” Howell wrote.

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The claims raised in the latest appeal could have been raised at trial or in earlier appeals, including the evidence discovered in 2023, under a discovery request, Howell argued.

“This request could have been made at any time since Kunkel’s conviction in 1995, and an attorney exercising reasonable diligence at Kunkel’s first and second post-conviction efforts would have done so,” Howell wrote.

“To rely on a case file that has changed possession several times over many years, without reviewing any possible discrepancies between said files and the State’s evidence and case file might raise issues of ineffective assistance of counsel,” Howell added.

The prosecution also argued in its brief that the issues raised in the latest appeal already had been litigated, and their assertion now is a misuse of process.

In rebuttal, defense lawyers argue in their brief that prosecutors have a duty to turn over any exculpatory evidence, regardless of whether the defense demands it, and Howell is trying to “shift responsibility for its due process violation onto Werner,” a “misapplication” of the Brady Rule.

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“I believe that having the Brady material available to me would likely have made a difference at trial,” Burianek said in his statement. “Without it, I was unfairly hamstrung in my ability to respond to the State’s primary theme: that no one saw Mr. Fassett alive after the night of August 1, 1986.”

A clarifying statement by the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Fassett presented by defense lawyers in the latest appeal also helped to prove innocence, Rümmer’s lawyers argue. The liver showed no evidence of alcohol, and there was no detectable amount of alcohol in his system, according to the autopsy.

“Given Fassett’s obvious state of severe intoxication on the evening of August 1, 1986, the new evidence establishes that Werner did not kill Fassett that night as maintained by the state,” DeKrey and Mayer wrote in their brief.

In response, Howell said Rümmer’s lawyers failed to address “other possibilities to explain the lack of alcohol in Fassett’s liver.”

Prosecutors presented little physical evidence in their case. One critical piece was a bloody shirt Fassett was wearing when his body was discovered at Ski Jump Hill, a landmark on Spirit Lake Nation near Fort Totten.

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Mayer and DeKrey wanted to have Fassett’s clothing tested to see if it contained any DNA

from his assailant, but the shirt was no longer available. The two lawyers claimed Fassett’s clothing and other physical evidence from the scene was “intentionally destroyed” in “bad faith,” violating Rümmer’s due process rights.

Lonnie Olson.jpg

Lonnie Olson, Ramsey County state’s attorney from 1990 to 2016, prosecuted Werner Kunkel, who was convicted of the 1986 murder of Gilbert Fassett.

Contributed

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In response, Howell argued that Rümmer “raises no excuse as to why DNA testing could not have been done in prior proceedings.” DeKrey and Mayer argued that the intentional destruction of the physical evidence after trial violated local, state and federal policies and practices.

Suppression of exculpatory evidence can be grounds for prosecutorial misconduct. Lonnie Olson was the Ramsey County state’s attorney who prosecuted Rümmer. Olson, who now is a district court judge in Devils Lake, has declined to comment on the suppression allegations.

District Judge Barbara Whelan, who is seated in Grafton, is the judge handling the appeal. No hearing has been scheduled to hear the arguments.





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Illini offer three-star tight end from North Dakota

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Illini offer three-star tight end from North Dakota


Bret Bielema and the Illinois coaching staff continue to remain busy on the recruiting front after offering three-star tight end Ben Hynek on Thursday. And why shouldn’t they? The Illini have been on a roll lately.

Hynek, a junior tight end out of Stanley (North Dakota), is ranked No. 23 in the nation at his position and third overall in the state in the class of 2027, according to 247 Sports’ composite rankings. Hynek has eight offers so far, including two from Big Ten programs (Wisconsin and Minnesota) and two more out of the SEC (Auburn and Missouri).

The next step for the Illini will be lining up a visit to Champaign sometime this summer with Hynek, who went on two unofficial visits last month, to Minnesota and Iowa State. Hynek has excellent size for his age and position (6-foot-6, 245 pounds) and is a well-rounded athlete. He is also a pitcher on his high school baseball team and a shot-putter on the track squad.

Just as with any junior-to-be recruit, Hynek shouldn’t be expected to commit anytime soon. He has plenty of time before he needs to make a decision and will probably wind up fielding more offers from Power 4 programs over the summer.

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Burke becomes 4th North Dakota county to report measles

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Burke becomes 4th North Dakota county to report measles


BOWBELLS, N.D. — More cases of

measles

have been identified in North Dakota, including in a previously uninfected county.

The North Dakota Health and Human Services Department announced on Thursday, May 29, the state’s 28th case, up seven from last week.

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The latest case was the first reported in Burke County in far northwest North Dakota. The release did not identify the age of the infected individual but said they traveled frequently to

Williams County, where the first case was reported.

Williams County has nearly half the state’s cases with 13 infections, according to Health and Human Services.

The state has reported 23 cases in people who are less than 20 years old, including three in children 5 years old or younger.

Burke is the fourth county in North Dakota to have a measles case. Cass and Grand Forks counties reported seven cases each as of Thursday. At the end of last week, Cass County reported six cases and Grand Forks County reported two.

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People in Divide County may have been exposed to the virus, Health and Human Services said. Places of possible exposure in Crosby include Lindsey’s Grocery Store at 211 Main St. S. from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Monday and Dollar General, 1108 Fourth St. SE, between 3:20 and 5:45 p.m. Monday, the release said.

“This is the highest number of measles cases reported in North Dakota since 1978, when 211 cases occurred,” state Immunization Director Molly Howell said in a statement.

North Dakota has a vaccination rate of almost 90%. The risk of measles to vaccinated residents is low, Health and Human Services said.

Measles is highly contagious since it can spread through the air and linger in rooms for up to two hours, the release said.

“People with measles are contagious before and after symptoms appear, increasing the risk of unintentional spread,” the release said.

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The state recommends two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine — the first between 12 and 15 months old and the second between 4 and 6 years old.

Two doses of the vaccine provide 97% protection, while one dose is 93% effective, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The MMR vaccine is effective for life.

Residents who were born before 1957 are considered immune.

Those who have contracted the virus should monitor symptoms for 21 days, while unvaccinated people who are exposed to measles should quarantine for the same time period, the release said.

Information on measles and the vaccine can be found at

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hhhs.nd.gov/immunizations/measles.

April Baumgarten has been a journalist in North Dakota since 2011. She joined The Forum in February 2019 as an investigative reporter. Readers can reach her at 701-241-5417 or abaumgarten@forumcomm.com.





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