South Dakota
Legislators vote to subpoena officials over alleged vehicle titling crimes in their department • South Dakota Searchlight
The refusal of a state department director to explain what’s changed after a recent vehicle titling scandal sparked a rare subpoena request from a legislative committee on Monday.
Department of Revenue Secretary Michael Houdyshell appeared before the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee in Pierre to discuss a new software system and other internal control measures he said will prevent further vehicle titling troubles. Two former Revenue Department employees are criminally charged in a fake vehicle-titling scheme, following an investigation into similar allegations against a deceased former employee.
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But Houdyshell refused, even during an hourlong, closed-door executive session, to offer details on the new internal controls. Houdyshell cited the criminal prosecutions and the possibility of future lawsuits, and said rules direct practicing attorneys to avoid making public statements about a case.
When the committee reconvened publicly, Sen. David Wheeler, R-Huron, told his fellow committee members that he disagrees with Houdyshell’s interpretation of that rule.
Wheeler and Houdyshell are both attorneys. Wheeler argued that rules barring public statements about a case can’t logically apply to statements offered behind closed doors.
He also said there is no active case involving the deceased former employee, who can’t be prosecuted but whose actions could land the state in a lawsuit.
The senator said it’s a pattern from the executive branch, and one that prevents lawmakers with oversight authority from doing their jobs.
“We need some sort of resolution to this, because this is the answer we always get. It’s occurred in the past when we’ve had controversial matters before this committee,” Wheeler said. “Officials say ‘there’s pending litigation, there’s a threat of litigation,’ therefore there’s no response.”
The committee voted 7-2 to support subpoenas for Houdyshell and Rosa Yaeger, director of the Revenue Department’s Motor Vehicle Division. A subpoena is a legal order requiring someone to offer testimony or produce evidence.
The subpoenas would need approval from the Legislature’s Executive Board.
Lawmakers tried and failed in 2023 to pass a bill that would have granted subpoena powers to the audit committee without that additional step.
The Executive Board is unlikely to be a hurdle in this situation, said its chairman, Watertown Republican Sen. Lee Schoenbeck. He told South Dakota Searchlight he intends to call a meeting for Oct. 29 to discuss the subpoenas.
“I’m going to honor the will of the audit committee,” Schoenbeck said, adding that he’d expect the board’s membership to agree to the subpoenas.
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Revenue Department concerns
The Revenue Department’s Motor Vehicle Division has been the focus of legislators since this summer, in light of the behavior of now-deceased former employee Sandra O’Day. O’Day worked for the division for decades. After her death, her family found suspicious financial records that ultimately led the state Division of Criminal Investigation to discover that O’Day had created 13 fake vehicle titles. She’d used them to secure loans, and Attorney General Marty Jackley said earlier this month that the banks victimized by her failure to repay those loans could file lawsuits against the state seeking damages.
Jackley’s latest statements came during a press conference Oct. 9, at which he announced criminal complaints against two other former Revenue Department employees. Lynne Hunsley is facing seven counts for allegedly falsifying a vehicle title, in part to avoid excise taxes, and Danielle Degenstein faces a misdemeanor charge for allegedly notarizing the phony title and for her failure to come clean to law enforcement when confronted.
“I do want to start with a little caveat,” Houdyshell said in the opening seconds of his committee appearance Monday. “Due to pending criminal proceedings and the threat of potential civil litigation, and at the advice of the attorney general, we’re going to be limited as to what questions we can answer today.”
A new system for vehicle and driver licensing in South Dakota should help prevent the kind of criminal behavior uncovered over the summer, he said. The department has also implemented a mandatory ethics training for employees, and has signaled its plans to hire an internal control officer.
That last move mirrors one from the state Department of Social Services. That agency also came under scrutiny recently for the alleged behavior of one of its former employees.
Lonna Carroll allegedly embezzled $1.8 million from the state by creating and approving fraudulent financial support orders for children from 2010 through 2023. Carroll’s jury trial is set to begin in December.
After about 10 minutes of public testimony Monday, Houdyshell and the committee members retired to a closed, executive session.
Closed doors, closed mouths
Sen. Wheeler launched into an explanation of his reasons for wanting subpoenas shortly after the committee reconvened for its public meeting.
The audit committee is supposed to get answers to questions on agency operations, Wheeler said, and it can hold sessions outside the public eye if necessary.
It’s not reasonable to expect lawmakers on the committee to sit on their hands for months or longer, he said, before attending to the business of oversight because of potential legal proceedings.
“We have to find a way for us to be able to do our job at the same time the judicial branch does its job,” Wheeler said. “I think that’s what this route allows us to do.”
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Sen. Tim Reed, R-Brookings, wondered what might stop departmental representatives from stonewalling in the face of a subpoena and citing the same rules for public statements from lawyers.
A subpoena could be challenged or modified in court, Wheeler said. If the Legislature’s subpoenas survive a challenge and departmental employees still don’t answer questions, he said, “it’s actually a matter of contempt, which is in itself a class two misdemeanor.”
The two committee members who opposed the subpoenas each expressed doubts prior to the vote. Rep. Drew Peterson, R-Salem, asked Houdyshell if the department intends to wait until every legal matter is finished before explaining new internal controls.
“We cannot delve into the details in this forum until any of the potential litigation has been resolved,” Houdyshell said.
Sen. Dean Wink, R-Howes, suggested the potential to influence the courts is something that justifies waiting for answers.
“I don’t think the Legislature has the authority to supersede the legal process in this situation,” Wink said.
Sen. Jean Hunhoff, R-Yankton, said if all the audit committee can do is nod yes when a department head says “trust us, we’ve got it under control,” committee members may as well stay home.
“It’s not that I don’t trust people, but I don’t trust people anymore,” Hunhoff said. “There’s too many things that have happened in the last couple of months.”
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Part 2 of a 3-part series.
South Dakota’s weak open records law gives police agencies full discretion on whether to release footage from body or dashboard cameras, and in most cases, the videos of officer conduct are never shown to the public.
South Dakota News Watch made formal public records requests to obtain video footage of use of deadly force incidents from eight separate law enforcement agencies in November, and all of the requests were quickly denied.
On a few occasions, South Dakota law enforcement agencies have released video footage of their own accord but not necessarily in cases where officer conduct is in question.
The Watertown Police Department released a video on Facebook in early November showing officers responding to a possible break-in with their guns drawn only to find a whitetail buck that had made it into a bedroom.
In 2016, the Rapid City Police Department posted a dash cam video to its public Facebook page showing the chief’s nephew proposing to his girlfriend in a mock traffic stop. “This one is too good not to share,” the Facebook post noted.
The Rapid City Police Department rejected News Watch’s request for videos of a May 30, 2023, incident in which an officer fatally shot 25-year-old Kyle
Whiting, who brandished a fake gun during a foot chase. A bystander inside a nearby home was also shot in the abdomen by the officer and survived. The state ruled the shooting was justified.
Still images tend to clear officers
Some police agencies will occasionally release still images from body or dashboard camera videos, typically when the screenshots show an officer facing a clear threat that appears to justify use of deadly force.
In August, the state released an image from video of a July 5 chase in which a Sioux Falls police officer shot and wounded 24-year-old Deondre Gene Black Hawk in the 100 block of Garfield Avenue.
One still image released to the public shows the gun Black Hawk fired at police. Another image shows Black Hawk pointing the gun toward a pursuing officer prior to the shooting, which was ruled justified by state investigators.
In 2022, the Rapid City Police Department took the unusual step of inviting local media to privately view body camera footage showing the shooting of Barney Leroy Peoples Jr., who was killed after pointing a rifle at officers. The video was not released to the public, and the shooting was ruled justified by the state.
“This was done for public interest and public safety to dispel a false narrative circulating on social media that could have led to civil unrest,” spokesman Brendyn Medina wrote in an email to News Watch.
In a move that appeared to have political overtones, videos were released in 2021 showing former South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg being pulled over by officers for suspected traffic violations. The videos and audio showed Ravnsborg informing officers of his status as attorney general during the traffic stops, some of which did not result in tickets.
The videos were released during a period when Ravnsborg was facing possible removal from office for striking and killing a pedestrian in September 2020.
Ravnsborg was eventually impeached, an action supported by then-Gov. Kristi Noem, whose office also made the unprecedented move of releasing videos of Ravnsborg being interviewed by detectives during the investigation into the 2020 fatal accident.
Federal agency released SD shooting video
In general, the federal government provides more public access to police videos than states like South Dakota, and that access was expanded in a May 2022 executive order from President Joe Biden.
That order included a requirement to expedite public release of videos from officers’ body-worn cameras. As a result, in October 2022, the U.S. Department of Interior issued a new policy that required federal officers to wear body cameras and sought to make it easier and faster for the media and public to obtain videos captured by federal authorities.
Due in part to that policy, video of a June 2023 police-involved shooting in South Dakota was released by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. In that incident, 39-year-old James Schneider of Watauga fired a weapon and then led authorities on a vehicle chase that ended at the Bullhead Community Center parking lot.
According to the dashboard video, Schneider was waving his arms and holding a handgun in an area where people were present. After he turned to flee into a residential neighborhood, he was shot in the back by an officer. Schneider was found guilty in August of assault and weapons charges after a jury trial and is awaiting sentencing.
In releasing the video, the BIA said it was doing so to be transparent in its operations. To protect the privacy of all involved, faces were blurred in the video.
“The community briefing video is intended to help members of the community gain a better understanding of what occurred,” the BIA said in a release. “We are committed to being transparent with our community.”
Privacy a top concern for agencies
Rapid City police do not routinely release department videos, largely due to privacy concerns of anyone captured in the footage, said Medina, the department spokesman.
“Much of the information collected by (body-worn cameras) is confidential and involves personal information, including that of victims, juveniles, and vulnerable individuals involved in critical and traumatic incidents,” Medina wrote in an email. “It’s important to note that we have had requests from victims and families specifically not to release photos or videos of their encounters with police. Additionally, juvenile and victim information is protected by state statute.”
Almost all states that allow for public video releases do so with caveats that privacy issues and often concerns over protecting prosecutions are met prior to release.
Rapid City shares the management of its video program with the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, which recently spent about $48,000 to buy 68 Axon body cameras, said sheriff’s spokeswoman Helene Duhamel.
The Sioux Falls Police Department has an extensive video policy that does not typically allow for public release of videos, said Sgt. Aaron Benson.
“Granting public access to dash and body camera video potentially involves numerous issues relating to the rights of all persons in those videos. These rights include but are not limited to general privacy concerns of victims, suspects, witnesses and others, to statutory and constitutional rights of those same individuals,” Benson wrote in an email. “Additionally, release of video can detrimentally affect ongoing investigations, prosecutions and other legal matters related to those videos.”
McPherson County Sheriff David Ackerman, president of the South Dakota Sheriff’s Association, said body and dash cameras are important tools for police agencies in both urban and rural areas, even though his camera program costs about $60,000 a year, roughly 10% of the overall departmental budget.
“These are very valuable tools, and it’s something that in this day and age, every office and agency needs to have,” Ackerman said. “I’m glad where we are today because they’re for the protection of the public as well as the officers.”
Assistant police chief on body cam: ‘I enjoy wearing it’
Monty Rothenberger, assistant police chief in Yankton, said he supports the use of dash and body cameras as a way to increase accountability for officers and to aid in resolving public complaints.
“I wouldn’t do this job without a body camera, and I enjoy wearing it,” Rothenberger said. “I don’t have anything to hide. And because everything is on video, I feel like Big Brother is watching and I support that.”
The Yankton Police Department bought new cameras last year at a cost of about $80,000, he said.
Rothenberger said that while he is aware of South Dakota public records laws that do not require the department to release videos to the public, he said he personally would support the release of videos in a high-profile or controversial case.
“I’m only speaking for myself, but I would never hide anything like that,” Rothenberger said. “That’s not up to me. … (But) releasing that stuff, it’s good that agencies release things when something has gone wrong and they are being transparent.”
Read part 1 of the 3-part series:
Police videos in SD: Public pays costs but cannot see footage As more states begin to provide public access to videos captured by law enforcement agencies, South Dakota continues to keep a tight lid on them.
Publishing Friday, Dec. 19, part 3: A 2020 legislative effort to regulate body camera videos never made it to a vote, maintaining South Dakota’s national reputation for law enforcement secrecy
This story was produced by South Dakota News Watch, an independent, nonprofit organization. Read more stories and donate at sdnewswatch.org and sign up for an email to get stories when they’re published. Contact content director Bart Pfankuch at bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The governor’s Correctional Rehabilitation Task Force, which aims to determine the best path forward for expanding services, will hold its second meeting on Wednesday.
The meeting will continue the dive into what programming should look like for the new prison. Officials in the Department of Corrections say they appreciate the attention to the issue shown over the year.
“The focus is in the right place. I think people are asking the right questions. I think that it’s being noticed that reentry in totality is a group effort,” Justin Elkins, DOC Chief of Behavioral Health, said.
Sitting at 43%, lawmakers and the Rhoden administration have dedicated a substantial amount of time to addressing recidivism in the state.
“I think people are starting to see that reentry is something our department needs help within terms of collaboration and relationships. Because we only determine part of the equation when it comes to reentry,” Elkins said.
Corrections Reentry Program Manager Scott Day says this change in perspective regarding inmates is needed.
“95% of these individuals are going to come back into your community. They’re going to be your neighbors. They’re going to work at your local fast-food restaurant or at your local store. You’re going to see them walk down the street. We just need to see as a culture that these aren’t bad people; these are just people who need an opportunity to show that they can succeed.”
The prison reset task force, which focused on the structure of the new prison, ensured that programming space increased from what is currently available, even when the location changed from Lincoln County to Sioux Falls.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t constantly think about what we could do more. And the new prison is needed. We need the space, we need the opportunity to get more programming in there,” Day said.
Day says the investment into programming space is not a matter of being soft on crime but rather smart on public safety.
Copyright 2025 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
Link to the listing: https://www.frrmail.com/…
For more information, contact: Cory Busse, Farm & Ranch Realty, Inc., at 785-332-8345 or frr@frrmail.com
KENTUCKY, Hopkins County. Five tracts of river-bottom cropland totaling 597.9 acres sold at auction for $5.39 million, or $9,015 per acre. Tracts ranged from 16 to 255 acres, with much containing drainage tile. Soil types were primarily Karnak silty clay and loam with some Belknap and Robbs silty loam. Structures included a tool shed and a 5,000-bushel grain bin. Tracts ranged in price from $7,800 to $11,500 per acre.
Link to the listing: https://www.kurtzauction.com/…
For more information, contact: Joseph Mills, Kurtz Auction & Realty Co., at 800-262-1204 or jmills@kurtzauction.com.
SOUTH DAKOTA, Dewey County. A contiguous, 1,529-acre farm sold to a single bidder at auction for $2,600 per acre, or $3.98 million. The property was offered in four parcels, two of which were historically in crop production (wheat, oats, corn and sunflowers) and boasted Soil Productivity Indexes of 70 or higher. Another highly productive parcel was planted in grass and alfalfa but could be converted to row crops. The remaining parcel included a blend of cropland, pasture and an updated home with a steel barn, shop, two Quonset-style buildings, continuous panel corrals and water tank.
Link to the listing: https://glcland.com/…
For more information, contact: Kristen Gill, Gill Land Company, at 701.934.2732 or 605.848.4502 or kristen@glcland.com.
**
— These sales figures are provided by the sources and may not be exact because of rounding.
— Submit recent land sales to landwatch@dtn.com
Katie Dehlinger can be reached at katie.dehlinger@dtn.com
Follow Katie on social platform X at @KatieD_DTN
(c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.
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