Posted: 11/2/04
Sentencing of oil vandal delayed; new charge filed
A man who pled guilty in a La Crescent oil vandalism case faces new charges.
Russell Robert Hunt, 18, Caledonia, was charged on October 20 with third degree criminal damage to property, a gross misdemeanor.
Hunt is accused of driving through a cornfield on the Ed Moldenhauer farm at 3120 County Road 6, La Crescent, on September 24.
According to the criminal complaint, Hunt drove his truck through a ditch and into the cornfield, where he made a figure eight and a wide loop, then exited through the ditch. Damage was estimated at $400.
He was arraigned in Third District Court before Judge James Fabian on October 25. Candace Rasmussen was assigned his public defender. He will next appear in court on November 9 at 10:30.
In the oil vandalism case, which took place in La Crescent last May, Hunt pled guilty on September 27 to two counts of criminal damage to property in the first degree and two counts of criminal damage to property in the third degree.
His sentencing for that had been set for October 25, but the court will withhold sentencing until the trial on the new charges.
Three other individuals, Tyler Wieser and Christopher Barnes of La Crescent and Kevin Humfeld of Dakota, have also pled guilty to first and third degree criminal damage to property and been sentenced in the oil vandalism case.
The criminal complaint states that they transported eight or nine pails of used motor oil in the back of a pick-up belonging to Humfeldís father, and dumped the used motor oil on eight vehicles on the night of May 19. The vehicles belonged to six students and two teachers from La Crescent High School.
Caledonia Argus
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