Terrance Jerome Arthur, 39, of Ponsford has been sentenced in Becker County District Court for felon in possession of a firearm, a felony.
A felony charge of fifth-degree controlled substance crime was dropped in a plea agreement.
According to court records, on Oct. 3, 2020, he was a passenger in a vehicle pulled over by a Becker County deputy for driving 43 mph in a 30 mph zone. Officers spotted a short-barreled shotgun in the vehicle. Arthur was arrested and taken to jail, where six baggies of meth, totaling 1.5 grams, were found on him.
He was convicted of second-degree burglary in 2017 and is not allowed to possess a firearm.
On June 2, Becker County District Judge Jay Carlson sentenced Arthur to 60 months in prison at St. Cloud. He was fined $50 plus $200 in court fees.
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Mistaken identity leads to charges being dismissed
A felony charge of first-degree damage to property has been dismissed in Becker County District Court against a Shoreview man after a case of mistaken identity.
Angel Juan Rivera, 61, of Shoreview was misidentified and was “definitely not involved in the case,” according to a court filing by the Becker County Attorney’s Office dismissing the charge.
According to court records, on Feb. 7, 2021, a man known to his girlfriend as Angel Manuel Ramirez damaged a Cadillac Escalade. The car belonged to a woman who had been at a Detroit Lakes residence talking to the girlfriend. He was angry that the other woman was there, and the two women watched as he used a hammer to break the front windshield, driver’s side window and rear window of the Escalade.
A police officer called to the scene did a Facebook search on Ramirez and determined that he may go by the name of Angel Juan Rivera on Facebook. The officer showed the photo to one of the women, who believed the photo was Rivera, and that Ramirez and Rivera were the same person.
Further investigation determined that the wrong man had been charged, and on June 7 the charge against Rivera was dismissed in Becker County District Court.
Woman sentenced for employee theft at WE Fest
Amber May Sayers, 37, of Shakopee, has been sentenced in Becker County District Court for felony theft.
According to court records, on Aug. 1, 2019, Sayers was a WE Fest employee. She turned in her apron, went to the bathroom and never returned to the ticketing and box office area. The ticket office did a count and noticed that 10 regular arm bands (valued at $225 each) and two VIP armbands (valued at $1,250 each) were missing.
Sayers was camping at Hilltop Campground at WE Fest and they found her there. She is accused of taking WE Fest wristbands with a total value of $4,750.
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On June 8, Becker County District Judge Gretchen Thilmony sentenced Sayers to a year and a day in prison at Shakopee, stayed five years.
She was ordered to serve 159 days in jail, with credit for 159 days served. She was fined $700 plus $850 in court fees, and was ordered to get a chemical dependency evaluation and follow the recommendations, including aftercare. She was ordered not to trespass on WE Fest grounds, and was placed on supervised probation for five years.
RELATED: See more Becker County District Court news
White Earth man sentenced for assault
Chandler Austin Smith, 23, of Bear Clan Loop, White Earth, has been sentenced for misdemeanor fifth-degree assault in Becker County District Court and gross misdemeanor carrying a BB gun.
Felony charges of third-degree assault and obstructing the legal process were dropped in a plea agreement.
According to court records, on Aug. 22, 2020, he got into a fight with another man at a residence on Bear Clan Drive. Others joined in to help him fight the man, and at one point they held the man down while Smith punched him on the ground.
On June 7, Becker County District Judge Micheal Fritz sentenced Smith on the assault charge to 90 days in jail, with 87 days stayed a year and credit for three days served. He was fined $500 plus $575 in court fees, and was ordered to get a chemical dependency evaluation and follow the recommendations.
On the BB gun charge, he was ordered to serve a year in jail, all but three days stayed two years. He was fined $500 plus $600 in court fees and placed on supervised probation for two years.
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Conditions met, charge dismissed for Montana license tabs
Gary Jon Schander, 53, of Leaf Lake, rural Lake Park, had a gross misdemeanor charge of intent to escape paying taxes dismissed in Becker County District Court, because he met all the conditions required by the court.
A felony count of failing to pay excise tax and a second gross misdemeanor charge of intent to escape paying taxes were dropped in a plea agreement earlier in the process.
According to court records, at the time he was charged, in 2018, Schander owned a 2004 Honda Accord and a 2007 Dodge Ram, both with Montana license plates.
Tax records showed that his primary residence was Lake Park and both vehicles were owned by him through his business, Premier Alliance Inc., which had a Montana address.
No such business was listed on the Montana Secretary of State's website. Montana has no vehicle sales tax and its annual registration tax is minimal compared to Minnesota's. A Minnesota State Patrol database check revealed that Schander and his 2004 Honda Accord had Montana plates during a traffic stop in 2013. He agreed to switch to Minnesota plates and pay the owed sales tax and arrears, which he did. He received a warning.
He then re-registered the Honda Accord back to Montana plates in 2017.
He bought the Dodge Ram from a Detroit Lakes dealership in 2014 and registered it in Montana, with Premier Alliance listed as the buyer. No sales tax was paid on the Dodge Ram.
On March 14, 2018, a state trooper saw him driving the 2004 Accord on County Road 6 with Montana plates. The trooper talked to him by phone on March 19, and he told the trooper he was not required to have Minnesota registration and he was not going to do it.
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Schander was accused of evading $1,462 in motor vehicle tax on the Dodge Ram and $147 in registration taxes on both vehicles.
The charge was dismissed June 7 by District Judge Gretchen Thilmony because Schander successfully met the requirements of probation, paid restitution, and paid a $1,000 fine and $1,000 in court fees.
