If criminal suspects give McLeod County Sheriff’s deputies a false name or ID, their fingerprints will soon tell a different story.

The sheriff’s office will soon receive two fingerprint-scanning identification devices from the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, free of charge.

The BCA will pay for any maintenance on the devices from the time the county receives them until Sept. 30, 2010.

The McLeod County Board passed a resolution Tuesday (April 22) “declaring an emergency” in the county.

There’s no need to panic, as the state-required resolution is merely meant to authorize the start of a jail retrofitting and energy conservation improvement project.

The resolution, in part, declares the project “an emergency measure necessary for the immediate preservation of public peace, health, safety and welfare …”

A rural Hutchinson couple were found dead in their home Sunday night after the McLeod County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an apparent homicide and suicide.

The couple were identified as Donald Francis Czeck, 41, and Katrin Rose Czeck, 35. Both were pronounced dead at the scene.

The couple lived at 20152 Lace Ave., about seven miles east-northeast of Hutchinson and two miles west of Silver Lake. Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the home at 7:21 p.m. Authorities from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension arrived shortly after 10 p.m.

Nearly 14 years after a brutal Glencoe murder, the McLeod County Sheriff’s Office is preparing to extradite a fugitive suspect from San Antonio, Texas.

Martin Rivera Ramirez, 33, was one of five men charged in August 1994 with second-degree murder and three counts of felony assault, stemming from an attack which left 26-year-old Hugo Perez dead.

For medical reasons, McLeod County deputies were not able to extradite Ramirez earlier this month. But, the so-called “Gang’s All Here” case has long required patience.

The McLeod County Sheriff’s Office will kick off its 2008 Childprint Program this week.

The sheriff’s office will fingerprint kindergartners and sixth-graders. They will also fingerprint fifth-graders, but only in Hutchinson and Winsted.

If parents have their child’s vital information, photo and fingerprints readily available, it can help speed an investigation should the child go missing.

McLeod County Childprint Program 2008 Schedule

Tuesday April 15
8:15 a.m. at Holy Family School in Silver Lake, kindergarten and grade 6

The McLeod County Board voted in favor of upgrades to the County Jail today (March 18).

Honeywell is overseeing several improvements to the jail’s security, heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems to bring the 25-year-old facility into compliance with state Department of Corrections standards. Additional work will help the facility become more energy efficient.

The County Board specified the work should not exceed $1.6 million in cost.

The McLeod County Board will decide tomorrow (March 18) whether to approve security and energy efficiency upgrades to the County Jail. The estimated price tag for the work is $1.5 million, but Sheriff Scott Rehmann noted, “Those aren’t hard numbers yet … This is still kind of a work in progress.”

The project is meant to bring the County Jail into compliance with state regulations.

A member of the Dassel Township Board was reportedly threatened Tuesday night (March 11), according to the Meeker County Sheriff’s Office.

At approximately 8:40 p.m., the sheriff’s office received the report that during the Dassel Township annual meeting, an man called the board member’s home. A family member answered and the caller asked for the board member by name.

When the caller was told the board member was at the meeting, he replied with a statement to the effect of, “Oh no, he should have stayed home, because there will be guns at the meeting.”

McLeod County law enforcement agencies and emergency responders are working on modernizing their radio communications, but are still only in the early stages of the project.

By Dec. 31, 2012, the Federal Communications Commission requires all agencies to migrate to narrow-band systems. However, it’s up to local governments to decide how they’ll get there.

A rural Litchfield man arrested after an armed standoff with authorities faces additional charges for assault and illegal possession of weapons.

Thomas Warren Pitts, 27, of Litchfield, barricaded himself in a residence on 640th Avenue Tuesday, after Meeker County Sheriff’s deputies arrived to arrest him. Pitts had an outstanding felony warrant for failing to register as a sex offender in Minnesota.