Records, Feb. 4

RAYMOND -- A burglary was reported around 11 a.m. Monday from the 200 block of Third Avenue Southwest. According to the incident report, a 32-inch, flat-screen TV was stolen.

WILLMAR -- Theft of a fire extinguisher was reported around 7:45 a.m. Tuesday from the 300 block of Lakeland Drive Southeast. The caller indicated the extinguisher was stolen sometime between 1 and 3 a.m. Sunday.

RAYMOND -- Theft was reported around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday from the 100 block of Babcock Avenue West. According to the incident report, $240 in cash was stolen from the residence.

WILLMAR -- Damage to a county jail sprinkler head was reported around 3:45 p.m. Monday from the Kandiyohi County Jail, 2201 23rd St. N.E.

WILLMAR -- Forgery was reported around 10:45 a.m. Monday from Blue Bird Pet Shop, 1305 First St. S. The caller indicated that she received a forged check from a woman who has moved to Florida. According to the incident report, the bank returned the forged check to the caller, indicating the check was altered or fictitious.

WILLMAR -- A Willmar man was arrested on a Kandiyohi County warrant around 1:30 p.m. Monday at Kandiyohi County Probation, 2200 23rd St. N.E. According to the incident report, the man will be arraigned for a fifth-degree controlled substance charge.

Kandiyohi County

- Fidelfia Camacho, 28, of Willmar, made her first appearance Tuesday on four felony charges for wrongfully obtaining assistance and failing to meet declaration requirements for public assistance. The charges are for allegedly claiming that the father of her child was merely a friend who lived with her.

Unconditional bail was set at $15,000. Conditional release was allowed on her personal recognizance. Her next court date is Feb. 17.

According to the complaint, during the past seven years, Camacho had applied for public assistance through Kandiyohi County Family Services. On May 4, 2007, she had given birth to a third child, for whom she requested assistance. She claimed her co-defendant, Wilmer Antonio Trochez-Ramirez, was the father, but that she didn't know where he was. She also reported she lived with a friend, named Eddie Valcarel, and that her only income was $350 in child support on her first two children.

An investigation revealed that Valcarel was a false name that Trochez-Ramirez was using to work at Jennie-O Turkey Store. He allegedly admitted he was the father of the third child and that he bought documents in the Valcarel name for $1,000. He also said he knew the child was receiving public benefits and that his income was not reported to Family Services. Jennie-O records confirmed his statement regarding his work. The resulting overpayment was $2,520.

- Michael James Nelson, 54, currently in the Minnesota Correction Facility at Faribault, made his first appearance Monday on a felony charge of receiving stolen property for possessing a stolen pickup.

Unconditional bail was set at $100. His next appearance is Feb. 24.

According to the complaint, Willmar police were called Sept. 11 to investigate a suspicious abandoned pickup along Fourth Street Southwest in downtown. The 1978 Chevy had been reported stolen from Ortonville. Several citizens gave the description of the man they saw drive the vehicle.

On Oct. 26, a local clergyman was interviewed by the officer. He said he met Nelson at a coffee shop the day before the pickup was found and gave him money for a place to stay. He said Nelson said he bought the pickup in South Dakota. The vehicle wouldn't start for Nelson, and the pastor had helped him get a container of gas for it.

- Cody Thomas Wolf, 18, and Corey Ronald Radunz, 24, of Willmar, made their first appearances Tuesday on felony fifth-degree drug charges for methamphetamine found Saturday in a vehicle in which they were stopped.

Unconditional bail was set at $30,000 for Radunz, who also faces a misdemeanor charge for driving after cancellation. Conditional release was set at $5,000. His next appearance is Feb. 17

Unconditional bail was set at $50,000, with conditional release at $20,000, for Wolf, who also faces a misdemeanor charge for giving a false name to a peace officer. His next appearance is Feb. 17.

According to the complaint, a Kandiyohi County sheriff's deputy stopped a vehicle around 11:30 p.m. Saturday along County Road 5 after the vehicle had crossed both the center and fog lines and sped up and slowed down erratically. The deputy observed there were multiple strong air fresheners in the vehicle, which can be a way to cover drug smells. Radunz, as the driver, consented to search of the vehicle. A K-9 unit indicated finding something on the passenger seat and console, where a bag of methamphetamine was found. Wolf was arrested, and gave another man's name. The owner of the vehicle later informed the officer who he was, and the officer used booking photos to determine Wolf's real identity.

- Omar Jason Romero, 28, of Willmar, made his first appearance Monday on three felony charges, including second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, after allegedly threatening a woman with a knife and threatening to burn down her home early Saturday morning.

Romero also faces charges for making terroristic threats and domestic assault. Unconditional bail was set at $50,000 with conditional bail at $10,000. His next appearance in Kandiyohi County District Court is Feb. 10.

According to the complaint, Willmar police were called around 3 a.m. Sunday to a home in the city's southwest quadrant on a domestic incident. They found a man, identified as Romero, sitting on the exterior steps smoking a cigarette. He complied with orders to put his hands up only after officers pointed a stun-gun at him.

A woman at the home said he came home drunk and they argued over the $400 he spent at the bar. She said he threatened her with a kitchen knife and said he would burn down the house. She was unable to find the knife allegedly used in the incident.

When questioned, Romero denied that anything happened or that there was a knife involved. Officers said he was intoxicated and extremely uncooperative. He was arrested and taken to the county jail, where he continued to be uncooperative, refusing to get out of the squad car and flooding the detoxification cell.

A review of his record includes a prior domestic assault conviction in April 2008 involving the same woman, plus prior convictions in Texas for assault in 2001 and violation of a restraining order in 2002.

- Tyrone Lyndon Swanson, 47, of Grove City, pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of fifth-degree controlled substance for possessing methamphetamine.

As part of a plea agreement, he will receive the minimum jail term of six months. He will be sentenced March 9.

The charge was filed after an Atwater police officer was on patrol in the city around 11:15 p.m. Nov. 3 and saw Swanson on the street. The officer knew there was a warrant for Swanson's arrest on driving after revocation charges. The officer caught up to Swanson and informed him he was going to be arrested, and needed to take everything out of his pockets. He moved toward the squad car and threw something under it. The officer searched his pockets and found $435, cigarettes, pocket knives, keys, receipts and a phone charger. He was placed in the car. The officer then retrieved the object: three small baggies of a white crystal substance.

When asked what it was, Swanson said, "It's just penicillin for my bad tooth that I got from the turkey barns" and then said it was meth for a girl who wanted it and that maybe he'd get lucky with her, but it wasn't for him.

Officers tested the drug, which weighed 10 grams, as positive for meth. A review of Swanson's record shows he was convicted of a third-degree controlled substance charge June 12 in Ramsey County.

- Rosa Chavez Barco, 50, of Willmar, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of gross misdemeanor check forgery for depositing a man's stolen check, from the Internal Revenue Service, into her bank account.

As part of a plea agreement, she was allowed to enter an Alford plea, under which she doesn't admit guilt, but concedes that there is likely enough evidence for a jury to convict her of the crime. She will be sentenced March 9.

The charge was filed after the Willmar police received information from Home State Bank on Sept. 18 that a forged check had been cashed by Barco on July 2. She had deposited a portion of the $1,200 in her account and taken some as cash. The check was from the Internal Revenue Service, which reissued the check to the rightful owner when he reported it missing.

In an interview, Barco said another man came to her home, asked her to cash it and she did. She claimed she had given him her check card to get the money from the account.

Several others were interviewed and told investigators that Barco and three others spent several days in the Twin Cities over the July 4 holiday and that Barco paid for everything.

- Victor Walter Stiehm, 23, of Benson, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of terroristic threats for threatening a woman. He will be sentenced April 6.

The charge was filed after Willmar police found at least 11 threatening voice mail and text messages on the woman's cell phone. Court records indicated that Stiehm and the woman had known each other since this past summer, and that a disagreement had arisen after they recently traded cars and the woman wanted her car back.

- Nicholas Austin Sorenson, 20, of Willmar, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony charge of fifth-degree controlled substance for possessing methamphetamine.

The charge was filed after a Willmar police officer stopped a vehicle around 2:30 a.m. Oct. 20 along High Avenue for having illegally tinted windows. Sorenson, a passenger in the car, was arrested on a warrant for another controlled substance charge. The officer noted Sorenson and another passenger were wearing the blue colors of the Gangster Disciples gang. Sorenson was searched and the officer found $315 in cash on his person.

The driver gave permission to search the vehicle and officers found a light bulb used as a methamphetamine pipe with residue and a lock box containing a bag of white substance inside. The officer couldn't open the box, but could see through cracks in the box that there were drugs inside. Sorenson claimed others in the car had put the stuff in his bag.

The jail staff found that Sorenson had a key that appeared to open the box, so the officer got a search warrant and opened the box. The box contained three separate baggies: one contained 20 pills of Seroquel 50 and the two others held two and three grams of meth. The box also contained a digital scale.

? Diane Fortney, 50, of Spicer, pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of wrongfully obtaining assistance - theft.

As part of a plea agreement, two other charges against her will be dismissed and she was allowed to enter an Alford plea, under which she doesn't admit guilt, but concedes that there is likely enough evidence for a jury to convict her. She will be sentenced March 9.

Also included in the agreement is that the same three charges against her husband, Gary Michael Fortney, 52, will be dismissed.

According to the complaint, the couple had applied for and received public assistance from Kandiyohi County in the form of medical assistance since 2005. As recipients, they were obligated to inform Family Services about their employment and income, and any changes to either, within 10 days. Gary's income and employment were reported, but no report was made for Diane. However, for a period from January to December 2006, she was allegedly employed by four different school districts -- Willmar, Monticello, New London-Spicer and Renville County West -- but only the last employment at RCW was reported. The failure to report resulted in overpayments of medical assistance for $3,342.69.