Rahn makes first court appearance

WILLMAR - The 54-year-old Willmar man who allegedly has been impersonating a highly decorated, non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army at several local events made his first appearance Thursday in Kandiyohi County District Court on unrelated gun charges.
Richard Arthur Rahn is being charged with felony felon in possession of a firearm and felony obstructing the legal process stemming from a search conducted Tuesday by Willmar law enforcement officers.
He is also being charged with felony possession of a pistol after being convicted of a violent crime. That charge stems from an incident last September when he was reported to be in the Rice Memorial Hospital emergency room suffering from a gunshot wound.
Court documents say that Rahn has four out-of-state felony convictions, which makes it illegal for him to possess dangerous weapons.
He has been previously convicted of two counts of felony burglary and two felony drug charges stemming from incidents in Florida and Washington. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison in 2003.
Unconditional bail was set at $50,000 for each case and conditional bail at $25,000 for each case. Bail is consecutive, which means the total amount for both cases must be posted for release.

Rahn makes his next court appearance September 22.
According to the complaint from Tuesday’s incident, Willmar Police Department and CEE-IV Drug & Gang Task Force officers executed a search warrant at Rahn’s home located on the 600 block of Second Street Southwest in Willmar.
The officers began the search around 6 p.m. and inside a walk-in closet they found a rifle containing four live rounds of ammunition.
They also found about $5,300 of cash at the residence and suspect that Rahn has engaged in gun trading.
Later that night, officers received a report that Rahn contacted a third party to retrieve guns and ammunition from Rahn’s storage locker.
Officers executed a search warrant on the storage locker just outside of Willmar and found firearms, ammunition, a U.S. military uniform and U.S. military medals and service pins.
According to the complaint from last September’s incident, the Willmar Police Department received a report from Rice Memorial Hospital that the emergency room had admitted a male party suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg.
An officer arrived on scene and found Rahn with a bandaged and bleeding leg.
Rahn said he had been preparing to go hunting on an acquaintance’s property outside of Willmar when he accidentally shot himself.
Rahn reported to police that, while moving materials around in a barn on the property, he came across a pistol and shot himself in the attempt to move the pistol.
The Police Department then referred the case to the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Office because the incident occurred outside Willmar.
A landowner and her son were interviewed, and her son said Rahn had been given permission to hunt but that there was not a gun in their barn.
The investigating officers determined the story “was not adding up in any way,” the complaint states.
A sheriff’s deputy later went to Rahn’s residence and found a man carrying a box and moving very quickly.
The man admitted that he was there to pick up the gun that Rahn had shot himself with. He also said Rahn was not being truthful to law enforcement.
The deputy then came into contact with Rahn, walking with a cane toward his location.
Rahn admitted that he was not being truthful and he was a convicted felon.
He also said he shot himself in a tripod ladder stand at a different location as he was going down the ladder in the dark while carrying the pistol.