Investigation into North Dakota AG building, emails referred to county state's attorney

A Montana investigation into an over-budget building project and deleted emails of former Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem was referred to a state’s attorney after a string of failed attempts to get a prosecutor on board, Attorney General Drew Wrigley confirmed Wednesday, Jan. 10.

The handoff, made on Friday, Jan. 5 to Mountrail County State’s Attorney Wade Enget, marks the latest step in a yearslong search for answers on the two matters.

Enget said Wednesday he was not familiar with the case and was still waiting on materials to arrive in the mail.

“I have no idea what’s involved in it,” he said. “I just said that I would take a look at it.”

Under Stenehjem, the Attorney General’s Office leased and renovated new office space in a series of business deals linked to Rep. Jason Dockter, a Bismarck Republican. The project exceeded anticipated costs by more than $1.7 million.

Stenehjem died in January 2022. Immediately after his death, Liz Brocker, his executive assistant, directed IT staff to erase the former attorney general’s email account. Brocker has said the request was at the direction of Troy Seibel, Stenehjem’s chief deputy, according to the Montana investigation.

After Seibel resigned that March, some of Seibel’s emails were permanently wiped, too, at the direction of Brocker.

The deletion of Stenehjem’s emails became publicly known after media open records requests related to the building project.

The building lease and deleted emails prompted repeated calls for further inquiry.

The purpose of the investigation by the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation — which culminated in a 131-page report made public in September — was to straighten out the facts of the case. It didn’t take a stance on whether any criminal activity may have occurred; rather, it’s up to Enget’s office to decide whether to bring charges based on the report’s findings.

The investigation would normally fall under the jurisdiction of the Burleigh County State’s Attorney’s Office, but Brocker now works there.

The Montana investigator, Don Guiberson, told lawmakers in a December meeting his probe was limited in scope due to a lack of subpoena power.

Lawyer previously referred the Montana investigation to prosecutors in Morton and Grand Forks counties, but both declined.

The Montana investigation is separate from an inquiry by the Ethics Commission into Dockter. The Ethics Commission probe led to a misdemeanor charge that accuses Dockter of voting to support funding for a property in which he had a financial interest, court records show. Dockter has pleaded not guilty to the charge. His attorney declined to comment.

This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com.