Posted: 4/19/05
Bail set for car theft charge at $100,000
James Schutte, 23, Caledonia, entered denials to two counts of felony probation violation in Third District Court on April 18.
Schutte was arrested after a car he was driving crashed in rural Caledonia on April 6. Matthew James Atkinson, 20, of Backus, Minnesota, was killed in the accident.
Schutte also appeared in court that day on charges of motor vehicle use without consent. The complaint was filed on January 28 for an incident that allegedly took place on November 28, 2004.
Judge James Fabian set unconditional bail at $100,000 and conditional bail at $50,000 in this case. Judge Fabian also reinstated conditions that had been previously set. The case now needs to be set for a jury trial.
Houston County Attorney Rick Jackson said that Schutte violated his probation for a conviction of auto theft by a number of specific acts, including driving a vehicle without a license, consuming alcohol on two occasions at a half way house in Rochester and engaging in assaultive behavior in a business that served alcohol.
Alcohol was involved in the April 6 accident, according to the Minnesota State Patrol, which is in charge of the investigation. No charges had been filed as of April 18.
Schutte is currently in the Houston County Jail.
Other court news
ï An omnibus hearing for Gabrial Orion Lowther, 29, has been set for April 25 at 2:15 p.m. Lowther was charged on March 28 with sale of controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, and three traffic violations. He is also charged with being a fugitive from justice in North Carolina, where he was arrested for possessing 28.2 grams of cocaine. He is awaiting extradition.
ï No trial date has been set yet for Dustin James Saukko, 20, of Caledonia. He pled not guilty on March 28 to four counts of felony theft and two third degree burglary. The burglaries occurred at Caledonia Auto Center and the Caledonia Mall (the former elementary school) on February 22. Saukko is in the Houston County jail.
ï Sentencing for Jarrett Richard Meyer, 17, New Albin, has been set for May 16 at 11 a.m. He pled guilty on November 17 to one count of criminal damage to property in the first degree, a felony, and one county of cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor. He shot two cows on August 27, 2004, along Corral Drive in a pasture in section 34 of Jefferson Township. Sentencing had been set for scheduled to be sentenced on January 19 but was postponed because of charges on another case that he is facing in La Crosse County.
ï An omnibus hearing for John Dale Ryan, III, 37, La Crescent, is set for May 16 at 11 a.m. He was arrested on February 4 and is accused of selling 8.7 grams of marijuana to an undercover officer, and is charged with two felonies for it.
Caledonia Argus
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