Court news: Frazee man gets 33 months on burglary charge

Daniel Jack Thompson, 30, of Frazee, has been sentenced on a felony second-degree burglary charge.

According to court records, on April 13 a Becker County homeowner noticed a dark figure walking away from her residence, and her dog was barking, so she caught up to the man, who turned out to be Thompson, and he handed over a baseball bat and a latch to her fence that he had taken. She took his photo and called law enforcement after he left.

Her attached garage and vehicle had been rummaged through and items were scattered all over. She had noticed a red pickup truck had been driving by her house, which she thought was odd because she lived on a dead-end road.

A Detroit Lakes police officer recognized Thompson from the photo the homeowner provided, and found that Thompson had previously been stopped while driving a red Ford F-150 pickup truck.

On April 17, that truck was found in a swamp in Detroit Lakes. A photograph was found outside the truck that had been stored in a checkbook taken in the burglary.

On July 21, Becker County District Judge Jay Carlson sentenced Thompson to 33 months in prison at St. Cloud, and ordered him to pay a $50 fine and $200 in court fees from his prison earnings.

A felony first-degree burglary charge was dropped in a plea agreement.

• RELATED: See more Becker County District Court stories

Stephen Andrew Bergeron, 38, of Detroit Lakes, has had a felony charge of debit card fraud dismissed in Becker County District Court.

According to court records, on March 1 he used a stolen debit card at Walmart in Detroit Lakes. He was allegedly caught on store video.

The debit card and a tax refund card were taken from a woman’s wallet and used by several people at Walmart and BP in Detroit Lakes, with six transactions at Walmart and one at BP gas, for a total of about $813.

Court records don’t indicate why the local charge was dismissed, but Bergeron is in jail on felony charges in South Dakota.

Elizabeth Marie Kilfoyl, 56, of rural Frazee has been sentenced in Becker County District Court on a felony fifth-degree controlled substance charge.

According to court records, on July 25, 2020, a trooper pulled her over after seeing her vehicle weave twice outside its lane on Highway 10 in Becker County.

She failed field sobriety tests and was taken to jail, where more than a half-gram of meth was found in a pill bottle in her purse.

She was previously convicted of DWI in 2014.

On July 21, Becker County District Judge Jay Carlson stayed adjudication of sentence and continued the case.

Kilfoyl was ordered to serve 15 days in jail, with credit for six days served, and work release privileges granted. She was fined $500 plus $575 in court fees.

She must get a chemical dependency evaluation and follow the recommendations, including aftercare, and was ordered to attend all mental health appointments and follow the recommendations. She was placed on supervised probation for five years.

A felony charge of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle and a gross misdemeanor charge of obstructing justice have been dropped in Becker County District Court against Richard Anthony Balsimo, 34, of St. Paul, because he is deceased.

The felony charge stemmed from a high-speed chase with a state trooper on Dec. 18, 2018, that started on Pow Wow Highway in Ponsford and hit speeds of 90 mph on Becker County roads 129 and 143, then speeds up to 100 mph on Becker County Road 35. People in the car were throwing things out the window during the chase

A pursuing officer forced the vehicle to a stop in the middle of County Road 21. He fled on foot but was caught with the help of a dog.

In a separate case from 2019, he was charged with two counts of first-degree, and one count fifth-degree, controlled substance crime. That incident also involved a chase.

Those three felony drug charges were also dismissed against Balsimo on July 21.