BELTRAMI COUNTY — A man’s body has been recovered from a pickup truck after the vehicle left the roadway and drove into the Mississippi River east of Bemidji on Friday evening.

According to a release from Beltrami County Sheriff Jason Riggs, at 4:43 p.m. on Friday, March 20, dispatch received a report of a pickup truck traveling northbound on Sunnyside Road that entered the Mississippi River after driving through a residential yard.

The reporting party indicated that no one exited the vehicle and it became submerged in the river, the release said.

When emergency personnel arrived on scene, they were informed that the truck was believed to still be occupied. Bystanders attempted to assist the occupant of the vehicle, but it quickly sank, the release noted.

Attempts were made to remove the driver from the vehicle, necessitating the response of the Lakes Area Dive Team. The lone occupant of the vehicle was recovered at 6:30 p.m. and was pronounced dead at the scene.

“No additional information will be released at this time,” the release noted. “The cause of why the vehicle left the roadways is currently under investigation. The identity of the male is being withheld pending positive identification and notification of family.”

The Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Bemidji Police Department, Lakes Area Dive Team, Minnesota State Patrol, Department of Natural Resources Enforcement, Bemidji Fire Department, North Country First Responders and the Beltrami County Emergency Communications Center.

JACKSON, Miss. — A former professional wrestler accused of misspending millions of welfare dollars in part of Mississippi’s largest public corruption scandal was found not guilty by a jury Friday.

Ted “Teddy” DiBiase Jr. was facing 13 charges related to conspiracy, wire fraud, theft and money laundering.

“It’s, I think, just a weight off his chest,” said Sidney Lampton, who represented DiBiase. “The jury got it right.”

A federal indictment had accused DiBiase of fraudulently obtaining millions of federal welfare dollars and using the money for his own personal gain, including the purchase of a vehicle, boat and home down payment.

“While I remain confident in our case, I respect the jury’s verdict,” U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger said. “I commend the prosecution team for their diligent efforts.”

DiBiase, a WWE wrestler in the 2000s and 2010s, is the only person charged in the scandal to face trial.

The welfare scandal came to light in 2020 when the former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, John Davis, was indicted on fraud and embezzlement charges alongside several others, including DiBiase’s brother, former pro wrestler Brett DiBiase.

Federal indictments accused Davis of directing the federal dollars to two nonprofits, which then awarded “sham contracts” to various people and organizations, including several companies owned by DiBiase, for social services that were never provided.

DiBiase’s companies were awarded more than $2 million in contracts for services that included leadership outreach, an emergency food assistance assessment and a program for inner-city youth, according to the indictment.

Much of the money came from two federal safety-net programs, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and was intended to help some of the poorest people in the nation.

More than $77 million in TANF funds were misspent, according to the Mississippi state auditor.

Davis, multiple nonprofit executives and Brett DiBiase have all pleaded guilty to charges related to the scheme.

The scandal also ensnared several high-profile individuals, including former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre. Both Bryant and Favre have denied wrongdoing and neither have been criminally charged.

Favre, the DiBiase brothers and their father, a former pro wrestler known as the “Million Dollar Man,” Ted DiBiase Sr., are among dozens of defendants in a lawsuit filed by the Mississippi Department of Human Services in an attempt to recover more than $20 million in misspent money.