Earlier this month, I received a phone call from Tim Myers, a special agent with the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He said he'd received a report about a minor female who had been sexually victimized over a five-year period in Elgin, North Dakota. He wondered if the victim and her mother should apply for a restraining order to keep the alleged perpetrator, Randall Hoffman, away from them while the investigation continued. I asked the agent if he found the information he'd received to be credible and if so, did he believe there was probable cause to arrest Hoffman. He thought so as did I. I told him to skip the restraining order, arrest Hoffman, and take him to jail.
Because Hoffman is a former district court judge, county prosecutor, and was then serving as the police chief in Elgin, North Dakota his arrest was big news. See WDAY-TV article and Bismarck Tribune article. It even made the New York Times and MSNBC. Hoffman's license to practice law in North Dakota had been suspended for prior ethical violations:
In court, last Monday, Hoffman's court-appointed counsel sought to have his bond of $500,000 cash reduced to 10% of that amount. The judge denied his request. Bismarck Tribune article
Here is a blog that addresses some of issues swirling around Hoffman: Bonnie Russell's Blog.
Grant County is a sparsely populated county filled with mostly, good hard-working, law-abiding, generous people. That being said, I've had too many sexual abuse cases there in recent years. Two months ago, Dustin Lehman was sentenced to four years in prison for having sexual contact [but not intercourse] with a young female. Last year, another man from Elgin was convicted of sodomizing a four-year-old boy. At sentencing he admitted sodomizing the twin brother of the victim he was convicted of molesting and was sentenced to serve 20 years in prison. In 2007, a Grant County man was convicted of molesting a girl continuously over a six-year period. He videotaped his exploits and is serving a 50-year sentence.
At the end of this year, I will end my prosecution days in Grant County. I can't say I will miss reading the investigative reports in cases like those mentioned above.