I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Nov. 19, 1999
By Devlyn Brooks
Two men, believed to be illegal aliens from Ecuador, were arrested Thursday by the Cass County Sheriff's Department in connection with pointing a gun at a Cass Lake resident earlier that morning, according to Cass County Chief Deputy Randy Fisher.
Fisher said a Cass Lake resident reported about 5:15 a.m. that an occupant of a small, maroon-colored vehicle had threatened and pointed a gun at him. The resident was believed to be in his home at the time of the incident, Fisher said.
Later Thursday, a Minnesota State Patrol trooper spotted the suspected vehicle near Walker, and two men in it were arrested. Officers from the State Patrol, Walker Police Department and the Cass County Sheriff's Department helped arrest Miguel Angel Astudillo-Alvarado, 21, and Wilson Ordonez-Sanisaca, 22, both believed to be illegal aliens from Ecuador.
No firearm was recovered from the care or on the two people, however, according to Fisher.
Both Astudillo-Alvarado and Ordonez-Sanisaca were being held in the Cass County Jail Thursday. Cass County Sheriff Jim Dowson said if charges are filed against the two by the Cass County Attorney's Office, it would have to happen today.
Dowson said that Astudillo-Alvarado told deputies that he is the brother of Julio Cesar Astudillo-Alvarado, 23, also an illegal alien from Ecuador, who was arrested Sept. 11 near Cass Lake for possessing 25 grams of cocaine.
On Nov. 1, Julio Cesar Astudillo-Alvarado pleaded guilty in Cass County District Court before Judge Michael J. Haas to first-degree controlled substance crime. His sentencing is set for Dec. 6, and Cass County is maintaining a hold on him until then. Haas ordered a presentence investigation and after that is completed, he is to be released into the custody of Hennepin County.
Bail or bond in Cass County has been revoked.
Fisher said, however, that there is no indication the drug bust and Thursday's incident of the gun pointing are related.
"If there is a relationship, it's just that (Miguel Angel Astudillo-Alvarado) was here in the United States illegally too," he said.
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