Court news: Detroit Lakes woman charged with assaulting police officer

Alicia Lizzett Alaniz, 31, of Detroit Lakes, has been charged in Becker County District Court with felony fourth-degree assault on a police officer, misdemeanor driving without a valid license, misdemeanor driving without valid insurance and petty misdemeanor drug paraphernalia.

According to court records, on the morning of Feb. 11, a police officer was parked on East Central Street in Detroit Lakes when he saw Alaniz drive by in her white 2007 Lincoln MKX. The officer, who knew she did not have a driver’s license, watched her accelerate down a slippery snow-covered road during blizzard conditions. As the Lincoln approached Highway 34, it failed to stop for a stop sign and narrowly avoided an accident with a semi.

The officer pulled her over, and she started arguing with him, then began driving forward. It turned into a scuffle, and while officers were trying to get her out of the vehicle, Alaniz tackled the first officer, pinning his ankle under their bodies, and the officer felt a pop in his ankle, then throbbing pain.

He suffered an avulsion fracture of his fibula at the ankle, and a cut knee from the altercation. A methamphetamine smoking pipe was found in Alaniz’s purse.

On Feb. 14, bail was set at zero, with standard conditions of release, or $10,000 bail or bond with no conditions.

Deon Eugene Bellanger, 32, of Ogema, has been sentenced in Becker County District Court for gross misdemeanor threats of violence. The original felony charge was reduced in a plea agreement.

According to court records, on May 28, 2021, a White Earth police officer responded to a rural Ogema residence on the report of a fight there. Dispatch advised that Bellanger intended to hang himself. The officer pulled into the driveway and saw Bellanger shirtless, with blood on his side, teeth, and lips. The officer asked him what happened, and he told the officer to ask his neighbors. Bellanger added that nothing had happened and that he would take care of it himself.

He denied being suicidal, but admitted that he had back-handed a female victim in the face. The officer went to the neighbors and spoke to two identified victims. The female victim said that Bellanger had come to her house, dropped off his daughter, and stated that he was going to hang himself.

The female victim went to Bellanger’s house to find his son and she found Bellanger in the basement, putting a rope in the rafters. The female victim tried to stop him, and he hit her in the face.

While the officer was speaking with the identified male and female victims, Bellanger came out of his house and yelled and threatened to kill both of them. Bellanger was arrested and transported to the Becker County Jail.

On Feb. 9, Becker County District Judge Gretchen Thilmony sentenced Bellanger on the gross misdemeanor charge to 356 days in jail, with 346 days stayed two years and credit for 10 days served.

He was ordered to pay a $500 fine plus $650 in court fees, and get mental health and chemical dependency evaluations and follow the recommendations. He was placed on supervised probation for two years.

Chad Stuart Mitchell, 45, of rural Frazee was charged Feb. 13 in Becker County District Court with felony violating a no-contact order and gross misdemeanor possession of a gun or ammunition.

He was earlier charged in Becker County District Court with felony domestic assault.

According to court records, on Dec. 15, he threw his cellphone at his wife as she was sitting on the couch, reading a newspaper and discussing a story with her juvenile daughter, hitting her in the jaw and causing pain and swelling.

Mitchell told an officer that he was angry about an argument they had that morning, and angry that she wouldn’t ask how his day had gone when he came home. He said he threw his phone intending to hit the newspaper, but missed and hit her face.

On Feb. 15, cash bail on the new charges was set at $1,000 with standard conditions of release or $40,000 bail or bond with no conditions.

Amy Izsola Murray, 38, of Fargo has been charged in Becker County District Court with felony fifth-degree controlled substance crime and two felony counts of check forgery.

According to court records, on Dec. 6, 2020, she tried to pass a forged Bank of North Dakota check for $446.58 at the Detroit Lakes Menard’s store.

Murray had also written another bad check at Menard’s a month earlier for $504.74.

She accidentally left her wallet behind after Menard’s declined to cash the check on Dec. 6, 2020, and the wallet was found to contain 7.76 grams of meth, with packaging.

It also contained a Capital One credit card belonging to a woman identified by the initials H.M.D.; a Varo debit card belonging to a woman identified by the initials A.V.; a Gate City Bank business card with A.V.'s banking and personal information; a North Dakota ID for a woman identified by the initials A.M.S.; a North Dakota ID for a woman identified by the initials S.E.E.; a Centre Inc. Check belonging to a woman identified by the initials A.F.L.; four blank Bank of North Dakota checks belonging to A.F.L.; a North Dakota Driver's License belonging to a woman identified by the initials B.A.G.; a Social Security card belonging to B.A.G.; 11 blank Bank of North Dakota checks belonging to B.A.G.; two Custom Design Plumbing LLC checks belonging to B.A.G.; and a INB Professional Cleaning LLC check belonging to B.A.G.

Also in Murray’s wallet were: Her birth certificate, her Social Security card, her Chime debit card, her Varo debit card, her Visa Card for $izsola83, her Visa Card for $amyizsola83, her current Visa card, and her Unlimited debit card.

On March 4, 2021, a West Fargo police Detective contacted a Detroit Lakes police officer and informed him that he had recently interviewed Murray at the Cass County Jail on a credit card fraud case.

During the interview, Murray admitted to being a passenger in a vehicle that was pursued by law enforcement in Detroit Lakes. Murray said that her boyfriend was the driver of the vehicle and had refused to stop for the police. Murray said that law enforcement eventually terminated the pursuit and they were never caught.

That pursuit occurred immediately after the Dec. 6, 2020 incident as they fled Menard’s in Detroit Lakes.

On Feb. 9 Becker County District Judge Gretchen Thilmony issued a summons for Murray to appear for a remote hearing April 14.