n Jennifer Marie Behrens, 34, of Willmar, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of receiving stolen property.
As part of a plea agreement, two other felonies for receiving stolen property and second-degree assault, a gross misdemeanor for endangering a child and a misdemeanor domestic assault will be dismissed.
The receiving stolen property charges were filed after a Willmar man reported a stolen laptop to Willmar Police in August. The complaint charges that Behrens purchased the stolen laptop and then sold it to another individual. The charges result from a Sept. 3 investigation into reports of copper thefts. Investigating officers were informed that a car belonging to Schwalbe had been seen at a site where copper had been stolen. Officers spotted her car and its trunk open at a Hawick residence. Inside the trunk they found a bolt cutter, new saw and jack.
They also found a laptop computer bearing a sticker indicating it was the property of the state of Minnesota. The serial number matched that of a laptop computer that had been stolen in a burglary reported Aug. 27. The victim reported that he heard a loud noise that night, and in the morning discovered that the laptop was missing from his kitchen table. Its electric cord was still in the wall. He found that an L-shaped slit had been cut in the window screen large enough to allow a person to enter. The laptop was valued at $1,347.32.
The assault and domestic charges were filed after officers were dispatched Jan. 9 to a domestic along the 300 block of Litchfield Avenue Southeast. A man handed a knife to the officers and said he and Behrens had an argument and altercation in their car in which she hit him in the face and attempted to take control of the vehicle. According to the man, the argument continued while climbing the steps to their apartment. He said Behrens hit him two more times before getting to the apartment. When in the apartment, the boyfriend said Behrens grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter and chased him out of the residence with it.
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Behrens will be sentenced June 13.
- Olga Onoria Chavez, 36, Willmar, was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in jail, $100 in fines and five years of probation on felony charges of aggravated forgery, perjury and wrongfully obtaining assistance.
She was ordered to serve 102 days in jail, with credit for 102 days already served, to pay $479.05 in restitution and to cooperate with agents from the federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
As part of a plea agreement, six additional felonies and one misdemeanor charge were dismissed.
The charges were filed after an investigation revealed that Chavez falsely signed documents that qualified her to receive assistance from Kandiyohi County Family Services for her child.
According to the police report, Chavez signed papers stating the father of her child was not living with her, when in fact he was and he was employed at Jennie-O Turkey Store. The investigation also revealed that Chavez was working at Jennie-O under the name Barbara Seise. She signed a federal tax form and an employment eligibility verification form in 2006 under that same false name, stating that she was a U.S. citizen. The complaint alleges she is from Honduras.
The forgery and perjury charges were filed after Willmar police were informed by federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Jan. 17 that the agents had gained information about Chavez while working on another case involving a family member. The information included that Chavez was living in Willmar under the Seise name and that ICE had photos and fingerprints connecting her to the numerous identities. Agents tracked the real Barbara Seise as a Puerto Rican and used Department of Driver and Vehicle Services records to find that Chavez had used Seise's identity to get a Minnesota driver's license and employment at Jennie-O in Willmar. After she was arrested, Chavez told officers that she bought the Seise documents for $900 from a friend.
