Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension

Join us this Friday as we help raise money for Minnesota’s Special Olympics athletes! Come to the Dunkin’ at 2425 Rice St. in Roseville between 6 and 11 a.m. Everyone who makes a donation to Special Olympics Minnesota during the event will get a coupon for a free coffee or donut!

We’ll be there! Join us to get your morning joe and help these awesome athletes.

The BCA is headquartered in St. Paul but we are stationed in and proudly serve all of Minnesota.

Taking a moment to thank so many of you from across our state — from Leech Lake to Bemidji to Burnsville — who chatted with us at National Night Out events across Minnesota this week.

This week we hosted a delegation from the Canadian Consulate. They were here to learn about the work we do in Minnesota communities and provide information on how they can assist us with investigations. We work many kinds of cases that cross jurisdictional and sometimes national boundaries and so it is important to develop partnerships.

The new school year is just a few weeks away! This week we continued our long tradition of delivering school supplies donated by our staff to more than 50 families in the Ames Lake neighborhood where our headquarters is located. Have a great school year, kiddos!

It was a beautiful evening to partner with the Ames Lake Community Center for our annual National Night Out festivities at the BCA headquarters in St. Paul.

Food, families, fun, and community. Could there be a better way to spend a summer evening?

Picture this: You get off work after a long day and head to the parking lot for your car. But it’s not there. It’s been stolen by someone intending to sell the pieces to a scrap metal dealer. A new law aims to reduce the number of these thefts by making it harder for thieves to find a buyer. Learn more in our DPS blog. https://shorturl.at/FCpBE

MISSING PERSON ALERT: The South St. Paul Police Department is requesting the public’s assistance in locating a missing man. Adam Wallin, age 31, is 5 feet, 3 inches tall, weighs 200 pounds, and is bald. Wallin left his home near the 1100 block of Bryant Avenue on foot on July 31 around 10 p.m. and has not returned. He does not have a cell phone or medications with him. Anyone with information on Adam Wallin’s whereabouts is urged to dial 911 or call the Dakota County Communications Center at 651-322-2323.

Our Violent Crime Reduction Unit is working on Operation Safe Summer III, an effort underway now in Minneapolis with local, state and federal partners working together to reduce violent crime in the city.

Our VCRU responds to Minnesota communities where they’re needed most – working to get guns and violent criminals off the streets. So far this year on cases we’ve worked alone or with our partner agencies we’ve made 254 arrests and seized 135 illegal fi****ms, 24,488 fentanyl pills, and nearly 100 pounds of m**h.

A C**n Rapids man has been charged with nine felony counts for possessing child sexual abuse material. Our predatory crimes agents and several partner agency investigators arrested Dennis Baak, 41, at his home last week. While executing a search warrant at his home last week, investigators found multiple electronic devices containing videos of children being victimized. Baak remains in the Anoka County Jail.

You can report suspicious online conduct involving children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 800-843-5678 or www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline. Our Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is the statewide clearinghouse for all cybertips received by NCMEC that have a Minnesota nexus.

Photo courtesy Anoka County Jail.

We have some great interns working at our Bemidji Regional Office and St. Paul headquarters – they’re gaining experience working with agents and forensic scientists and learning about the work we do across Minnesota every day.

On this Nation Intern Day we celebrate our own interns and recognize the value of giving our young people hands on experience to better prepare them for their future careers.

You can learn about careers at the BCA on the Careers page on our website.

MISSING PERSON ALERT: The Sartell Police Department is requesting the public’s assistance in locating a missing teen. Kaydence Johnson, age 17, is 5 feet, 3 inches tall, weighs 200 pounds and has brown eyes and brown/red hair. Johnson left a Sartell home on June 22 with another person who has since returned. Johnson is believed to be in the Twin Cities Metro Area. Her last known location was in the area of Penn Avenue and 36th Avenue North in Minneapolis. Anyone with information on Kaydence Johnson’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Sartell Police Department at 320-251-8186 or dial 911.

Our forensic scientists demonstrated their skills this week for the law enforcement professionals of the future.

Our team participated in the Range Youth Police Academy, a program for kids in grades 8-12. During our time with the students, we talked about how we process crime scenes, how to collect evidence and the special forensic testing we do.

We demonstrated several blood processing techniques, how we use lasers for trajectory determination and how to cast footwear impressions in dirt.

Learn how you can have a career in forensic science on our website. https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/bca/bca-divisions/forensic-science/Pages/careers-in-forensic-science.aspx

The Facebook account of a Minnesota Department of Public Safety partner with partial access to our page was hacked earlier today.

As a result, a sponsored ad with potentially insensitive or offensive content that we did not approve was distributed through our account. We are working with the person whose account was hacked to resolve the issue and delete the sponsored ad. The impacted individual has changed their password and security to help prevent further issues.

Thank you to all who alerted us to this clear misrepresentation. The sponsored ad did not represent us or the views of this agency.

It is devastating when a loved one is missing. Often, the pain of not knowing what happened can be among the worst parts. That’s why our laboratory continues to explore and advance the use of scientific m**hods to help solve missing and unidentified persons cases.

Learn how the BCA is identifying the remains of missing people and giving them back their names in our DPS blog:
https://dps.mn.gov/blog/Pages/20240708-unidentified-remains-project.aspx

MISSING PERSON ALERT: The St. Cloud Police Department is requesting the public’s assistance in locating Shikita Jones. Jones is age 17, 5 feet, 5 inches tall, weighs 150 pounds, has brown eyes and currently has gold hair. Jones was reported as a runaway from a home in the 1400 block of Minnesota Boulevard in St. Cloud on May 25. Investigators believe she is with an unidentified adult male in the St. Cloud area. She has been in communication with family but will not identify her location. Anyone with information on Shikita Jones’ whereabouts is urged to contact the St. Cloud Police Department at 320-251-1200 or dial 911.

Congratulations to the 18 new BCA special agents sworn in today. These men and women will be working in communities across Minnesota on predatory crimes, gun offenses, financial crimes and our force investigations unit. Welcome! Let’s get to work!

We are closed today in recognition of the July 4th holiday. Our offices will reopen tomorrow at 8 a.m. Thank you!

A Winona man is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty this week to federal sextortion charges. Valentin Silva Quintana, age 30, targeted more than 60 young girls in an online sextortion scheme. Most of his victims were between 9 and 12 years old. Quintana would often pretend to be a friend or romantic interest to gain their trust, then would force them to provide more and more explicit images.

Our predatory crimes agents worked the case with Winona County sheriff’s investigators, and with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations.

If you are the victim of a sextortion scheme — know that you are not in trouble, but you need to contact law enforcement and tell a trusted adult immediately. Stop communicating with the person doing this to you, but don’t delete any accounts or messages you’ve had with them. Investigators will use the information to build a case against them.

She told a colleague she’d overslept, that she was running late. It was the last time anyone heard from Jodi Huisentruit, who disappeared 29 years ago today.

Originally from Long Prairie, Minn., Jodi was working as a news anchor in Mason City, Iowa, when she went missing. There were signs of a struggle outside of her apartment but despite an exhaustive investigation, Jodi has never been found. Her family, friends and community deserve the chance to say goodbye, to lay her to rest. There’s a $50,000 reward for information that leads to her remains. If you know anything that could help, it’s time to come forward. Please call Mason City PD at 641-421-3636.

This is the bag used to deliver $120,000 in cash to a member of the jury in the Feeding Our Future fraud trial. How do we know that? Just three days after the bag was delivered, our dedicated team of forensic scientists had connected it to one of the people now charged with bribery.

Our latent print examiner worked in the lab to find and isolate fingerprints on the bag. She entered them into the database and got a match, giving investigators a vital lead. There was a lot of evidence to go through but our team knew where to focus to get important answers quickly.

The US Attorney’s Office today announced charges against five people involved in the bribery scheme, including the person who dropped off the bag at the juror’s house. We are grateful to our partner agencies, and to the juror who couldn’t be bought, for working to uphold our justice system.

Photo Credit: US Attorney’s Office

MISSING PERSON ALERT: The St. Cloud Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating a missing juvenile. Ezariah Hall, age 15, is 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 115 pounds and has mid-length black hair and brown eyes. She left her home on April 5 for the Twin Cities Metro Area and while she has had phone contact with family members she has not been located. Anyone with information on Ezariah Hall’s whereabouts is urged to call 911.

We have released statewide information from local law enforcement agencies about their use of No-Knock Search Warrants in 2023. You can read the full report on our website.

MISSING PERSON ALERT: The Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office is seeking the public’s help in locating a missing person. Robert Shaw, age 79, is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. He has been missing since early June 22 from the area of County Highway 134 and State Highway 29 in rural Henning in Ottertail County. Anyone with information on Robert Shaw’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office at 218-998-8555 or dial 911.

Happy birthday Tros! Our good boy turns 2 today. He’s the BCA’s very first fi****ms detection K-9 and has already made a big impact since he joined the team last year. Please join us in wishing him the happiest birthday!

Thirty years ago today, our forensic science laboratory received a certificate of accreditation from the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. We have maintained this high standard ever since! Our scientists work every day to process a wide variety of evidence, advancing investigations, bringing answers to families impacted by crime and making Minnesota safer. Thanks to the team for their excellence and professionalism!

ENDANGERED MISSING PERSON ALERT: The St. Paul Police Department is asking for help locating Sebastian Santibanez, age 20. Santibanez was last seen leaving his residence on foot in the St. Paul Midway area around 5 a.m. on June 16.

Santibanez is 5 feet, 8 inches tall, weighing 130 pounds with curly black hair. He has a thin build and tattoos on his hands. He might be wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.

If you have seen him or know where Santibanez is, please call St. Paul Police Department at 651-291-1111.

Four years ago today, Terry McCoy was preparing to move from his Wheaton, Minn., farm to an assisted living facility.

When the home’s new owners arrived the next day they saw possible signs of a struggle. The home had not been robbed, but Terry was nowhere to be found. His body was eventually found in the Mustinka River northeast of Wheaton. The medical examiner said Terry’s death was a homicide.

This case remains unsolved. There is a $3,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest in this case. Anyone with information about his death is urged to contact the BCA Tipline at 877-996-6222.

Minnesota law enforcement agencies reported 4,326 unmanned aerial vehicle (or drone) uses in 2023 in circumstances where a warrant was not required. That is up 41% from 2022.

Learn more about law enforcement drone use in the BCA’s annual UAV report on our website.

One of our classrooms turned into a courtroom today! Our toxicology and calibration forensic scientists joined their colleagues from neighboring states to learn about testifying in court. It’s important that they be able to explain to a jury the work that they do and what their findings might mean for a case. Clear, factual testimony could make the difference in holding someone accountable for their crimes. Thanks to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration Regional Toxicology Liaisons and our local and state experts for sharing their insights about traffic safety testimony with the class!

We are closed today in recognition of Memorial Day. Our offices will reopen tomorrow at 8 a.m.