Crime news: Frazee man charged with 3 felony sex counts

Andrew Duane Probasco, 35, of Frazee has been charged in Becker County District Court with three counts of felony first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

According to court records, he had sexual contact with a girl in the Frazee area over the course of multiple years. The sexual contact started when the girl was under the age of 10.

On July 29, Probasco was arrested on unrelated felony warrants and on a traffic violation.

On Aug. 2, Becker County District Judge Jay Carlson set cash bail at $10,000 or bond at $100,000, under standard conditions of release, or $200,000 bond with no conditions.

Arlan Ray Bergstrom Jr., 28, of rural Detroit Lakes has been sentenced on a felony charge of third-degree controlled substance crime.

According to court records, on Jan. 12, 2021, in Becker County, Bergstrom sold 7 grams of meth to a confidential reliable informant with the West Central Minnesota Drug and Violent Crime Task Force.

On July 29, Becker County District Judge Jay Carlson sentenced Bergstrom to 52 months in prison at St. Cloud, and ordered him to pay a $50 fine and $200 in court fees.

He was also ordered to pay a $50 fine and $125 in court fees on an unrelated misdemeanor fourth-degree damage to property charge.

Felony second- and fifth-degree assault charges and a felony fifth-degree drug charge were all dropped in a plea agreement. The prison sentence was executed at Bergstrom’s request.

Christine June Bowdish, 58, of rural Frazee was sentenced in Becker County District Court for felony second-degree controlled substance crime and felony theft.

According to court records, on May 14, 2019, she sold 1.4 grams of meth to a confidential reliable informant with the West Central Minnesota Drug and Violent Crime Task Force.

On May 15, 2019, she sold 7.54 grams of meth to the informant. On June 19, she sold another 11.03 grams of meth, and on June 24, 2019, she sold 5.49 grams of meth, for a total of 25.60 grams of meth sold to the informant.

On June 24, 2019, task force agents executed a search warrant at her residence and found 2.86 grams of meth, some task force buy money, and numerous guns.

In a separate case, Bowdish stole $1,185 worth of items May 8-14, 2019, from the store in Frazee where she worked, according to court records. A June 24, 2019, search of her residence on the drug charges revealed numerous totes that matched the description of ones stolen from the business.

On July 2, Becker County District Judge Gretchen Thilmony sentenced Bowdish to 48 months in prison at Shakopee, stayed 25 years.

On the drug charge, she was ordered to serve 90 days in jail, with credit for 18 days served.

She was fined $1,000 plus $150 in court fees and $1,600 restitution.

She must get a chemical dependency evaluation and follow the recommendations, including aftercare. She was placed on supervised probation for 25 years.

The original charges of felony first-degree and fifth-degree controlled substance crime were reduced or dismissed in a plea agreement.

On the theft charge, she was sentenced to a year and a day in prison, stayed five years, the same (concurrent) jail time as the drug sentence, and must pay an additional fine of $500 plus $650 in court fees.

Jason Glen Marinucci, 36, of Frazee, has had a felony charge of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle dismissed in Becker County District Court, because he is serving a 12-year sentence in federal prison.

According to court records, at 1:45 a.m. on March 19, 2019, a trooper clocked a vehicle going 80 mph in a 65 mph zone on Highway 10 in Becker County.

He pulled the vehicle over and was talking to the driver, Marinucci, when the trooper noticed a brown substance that appeared to be heroin on the center armrest.

Asked what it was, Marinucci replied "crumbs," and brushed it onto the floor. The car was a rental and he said he was not the person who rented it.

Asked to exit the vehicle, he replied "no, sir," and sped away. Since the driver had been identified, the trooper did not pursue. Marinucci was also wanted on a felony fleeing charge in Clay County.

The fleeing charge was dismissed July 30 in Becker County District Court because Marinucci has been convicted of a different offense in federal court and sentenced to 144 months in prison.

• RELATED: See other Becker County District Court news

Holly Ann Weaver, 24, of Duluth, has had a felony fifth-degree drug charge dismissed in Becker County District Court, because she was sentenced to state prison in another case.

According to court records, on March 1, 2020, a state trooper saw her walking on the median-side fog line on Highway 10 in Detroit Lakes and stopped her to ask for identification. As she reached in a pocket to pull out ID, a plastic baggie containing a meth rock weighing 4.81 grams fell on the ground.

The charge was dismissed Aug. 3, as part of a housecleaning measure after Weaver was sentenced on July 21 to 21 months in prison at Shakopee for selling meth.

Lawrence Edward Gallegos, 46, of Vergas, has had a felony charge of fifth-degree controlled substance crime dismissed in Becker County District Court, because he met conditions required by the court.

According to court records, shortly before 3 a.m. on July 22, 2018, a Becker County deputy responded to a report of a man slumped over the wheel of a car parked outside a Detroit Lakes residence.

When the deputy woke him up, he noticed plastic bagging with a white crystal substance on his thigh. As Gallegos got out of the vehicle, it fell to the ground. He was arrested on an active warrant and the vehicle was searched, revealing a digital scale and additional baggies totaling one gram of meth.

On July 21, the charge was dismissed because he met conditions required by the court at sentencing, when he was ordered to serve 45 days in jail, with credit for three days served, pay a $700 plus $775 in court fees, and get a chemical dependency evaluation and follow the recommendations, including aftercare. He successfully completed supervised probation.