Stavaas was arrested Wednesday morning for allegedly burglarizing a liquor store in Golden, Colo., and he may be incarcerated in the Jefferson County, Colo. jail for quite some time before he is extradited to Minnesota.
Stavaas was first noticed by two Golden police officers shortly after midnight Mountain Standard Time on Wednesday, according to Pam Russell, an information officer with the district attorney’s office of Jefferson and Gilpin counties.
Stavaas and another man, Bryan Brooks, 31, were allegedly hanging around near Golden’s public library, pushing each other and holding bottles of alcohol. Wondering why the two were out so late, the two officers approached Stavaas and Brooks to ask them some questions.
The officers asked the two men to identify themselves and ran their names. Upon running Stavaas’ name, the officers realized that there were two warrants out for his arrest.
While the officers were talking to Stavaas and Brooks, they allegedly saw some shards of glass that were on Stavaas’ person. At about the same time, a call came in that a nearby liquor store had had its window smashed in. The officers suspected the two men of burglarizing the store and arrested them for suspicion of felony burglary and misdemeanor theft and criminal mischief. Stavaas was also arrested for being a fugitive from justice. In addition to his Otter Tail County warrant, he also has a warrant in Wadena County for failing to appear at a probation violation hearing for terroristic threats and domestic assault.
Stavaas has not been formally charged at this time. The district attorney’s office has until Tuesday to formally charge him. He will appear in court on Thursday morning, when he will be advised of his rights and why he is being charged. Bond may also be set.
If the district attorney does choose to prosecute Stavaas, his Colorado court case will be heard before his animal cruelty case in Otter Tail County.
“It will take a while for him to go through their court system,” said Lieutenant Matthew McGuire with the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office. McGuire added that even if Stavaas is cleared of his Colorado charges or is not charged at all, he will be transported back to Otter Tail County.
“Once he’s done with their charges, he will go through the extradition process,” McGuire explained. “We’ve got a hold on him.”
McGuire said that charging Stavaas with fleeing to avoid prosecution has also been discussed, but any serious decisions about that would be premature.
“I don’t see any additional charges at this time, but that would be up to the county attorney’s office,” he said, adding that there can be federal charges involved with fleeing across state lines, but those are not usually handed down unless a serious felony is involved.
Though Stavaas probably won’t be back in a Minnesota court for quite some time, the local sheriff’s office is glad that the hunt is over.
“We’re pleased that he was finally picked up,” said McGuire.
(Fergus Falls Journal - Dec 16, 2010)
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