Steele County Sheriffs Office Sheriff Lon Thiele Chief .... 2018.pdfdriving tips to follow for Minnesota winters: Accelerate and decelerate slowly. Applying the gas slowly to acceler-’t

Steele County Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff Lon Thiele

Chief Deputy Scott Hanson

Volume 1, issue 7

Mon. Jan . 1st—

Wed. Jan. 31st

Busiest Day of Week:

Wednesdays

315 Events

Busiest Hour of Day:

7:00 a.m.

Total # of Events:

1684

Average Events/Day:

54

Average Events/Hr.

2.26

Average Traffic

Stops:

3.35 per hour

DWIs for the month:

1

Permit to Carry : 20

Permit to Purchase:

15

Civil Papers

Served: 173

Congratulations- Thursday Jan. 11th marked

the 30 year anniversary of Sgt. Gary Okins with the Steele County Sheriff’s Office. Throughout his years here, he has worked for 4 different Sheriff’s and many Sheriff’s office staff that he refers to as great team members. Gary started

his career with Redwood County and left Minnesota for a brief time to work in a suburb of Kansas City. In 1986 Gary was offered a job as a part-time Police Officer with the Blooming Prairie Police Department where he worked for 18 months. It was then that Sheriff Bill Hilldebrandt offered him a job as a Patrol Deputy in Steele County. After working pa-trol for 12 years, Gary moved into the Investigations position

Polar Plunge 2018- On Saturday, January 27th, members of Steele

County public safety participated in the 4th Annual Owatonna plunge

that took place at Lake Kohlmeier. Overall there were 130 partici-

pants that were able to raise over $20,000!

Steele County Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff Lon Thiele

Chief Deputy Scott Hanson

Volume 1, issue 6 pg. 2

Feb. 2nd—Groundhog

day

Feb. 11th– Sheriff’s

Posse pancake

breakfast

Feb. 14th—

Valentine’s Day

Feb. 19th–

President’s Day

Snow Storm 2018- Blizzard conditions reeked havoc on the roadways

Jan. 22nd. The Steele County Sheriff’s office responded to over 50 calls

ranging from jack-knifed semis ,vehicles stuck in the middle of the road-

ways and crashes. The National Weather Service reported a total snow-

fall of 17 inches within a 12 hr. time frame. As a reminder here are a few

driving tips to follow for Minnesota winters:

Accelerate and decelerate slowly. Applying the gas slowly to acceler-

ate is the best method for regaining traction and avoiding skids. Don’t

try to get moving in a hurry. And take time to slow down for a stop-

light. Remember: It takes longer to slow down on icy roads.

Drive slowly. Everything takes longer on snow-covered roads. Accel-

erating, stopping, turning – nothing happens as quickly as on dry

pavement. Give yourself time to maneuver by driving slowly.

Stay home. If you really don’t have to go out, don’t. Even if you can

drive well in the snow, not everyone else can. Don’t tempt fate: If you

don’t have somewhere you have to be, watch the snow from indoors.

Passing parked emergency vehicle : MN statute 169.20 When approaching and before passing an authorized emergency ve-

hicle with its emergency lights activated that is parked or otherwise

stopped on or next to a street or highway having two lanes in the

same direction, the driver of a vehicle shall safely move the vehicle to

the lane farthest away from the emergency vehicle, if it is possible to

do so.

Steele County Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff Lon Thiele

Chief Deputy Scott Hanson

Volume 1, issue 7 pg. 3

DWI- On Saturday Jan. 6th

an Albert Lea man was

arrested for 4th degree

DWI after driving the wrong

way on Hwy 14 E.

The male thought he was

closer to I-90. He also

stated that he was Not

driving on the wrong lanes,

but stated that he saw

approaching vehicles exit

as fast as they could.

BEWARE: Common Scams Scams can be large or small, sophisticated or simple, and come from next

door or across the world. But the crooks behind them have two things in

common. They want to steal your money and avoid being caught. Below is

a list of common scams. Turn the tables on con artists behind them—don’t

fall for their tricks. Report these scams and their perpetrators to the Attor-

ney General’s Office.

Grandparent Scam In a typical grandparent scam, a con artist calls or emails you posing as a

relative in distress or as someone claiming to represent the relative (such

as a doctor, lawyer, or law enforcement agent). The scammer may franti-

cally tell you a variation of “Grandma, it’s me,” followed by a description of

the problem in which they have found themselves (arrested, in an auto ac-

cident, in need of a lawyer, etc.). You are then instructed to wire money to

the scam artist with the claim that the funds will be used for bail money,

lawyer’s fees, hospital bills, or other expenses. You are also urged not to

tell anyone, such as the parent of the “grandchild.” Many scams rely on

money being wired or sent through prepaid cards like MoneyPak or iTunes,

and consumers should be wary of any offer that requires these methods,

instead of using a credit card, which protects consumers in the event of a

scam.

Fake Check Scams Fake check scams—in which fraudsters ask their victims to cash realistic-

looking checks and wire a portion of the proceeds back to the scammer be-

fore the check bounces—continues to be one of the most frequently- re-

ported scams. There are many variations of the fake check scam, but what-

ever the pitch, they all have one thing in common: there is no legitimate

reason for someone to give you money and then ask you to send money

back.

Steele County Sheriff’s Office

Sheriff Lon Thiele

Chief Deputy Scott Hanson

Volume 1, issue 7 pg. 4

“You Have Won” Calls and Mail An excited salesperson on the other end of the phone or an official

looking prize notice in the mail claims you have won a prize. Watch out.

Often these prize awards have long and expensive strings attached. You

can spot this scam almost right away if you look for these messages:

• The caller or the mail piece tells you, “You have won a prize.”

• You must purchase a product (like magazines), pay a processing fee,

or pay taxes.

• Request for a credit card number, checking account number or a social

security number.

• Often your money must be sent by overnight delivery to a company in

another state or country.

No matter how appealing, hang up the phone or throw away the mail. Nev-

er give out your credit card number, checking account number, or social

security number. Make sure you report the call or mail to the Attorney Gen-

eral’s Office.

Lottery Scams Lottery scams typically begin with an unexpected email, letter or phone call

from a scam artist who claims you have won money in a lottery or sweep-

stakes. This seemingly good news might quicken your pulse, but do not let

it override your good judgment. Invariably, the scam artist will ask you to

send money to pay purported taxes, insurance or other fees to claim the

winnings. Or, the scam artist may ask for your bank account information,

supposedly so your winning can be directly transferred into your bank ac-

count. The scam artist uses this information to empty your bank account.

Once the money has been sent,

contact with the scam artist is cut off,

and the money is lost for good.

Pt. 2 will follow in the Feb.

Issue.

Federal Bureau of Investi-gation Minneapolis Office 1501 Freeway Boulevard Brooklyn Center, MN 55430 (763) 569-8000 www.fbi.gov

United States Postal In-spection Service 1745 Stout Street, Suite 900 Denver, CO 80299-3034 (877) 876-2455 https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov

Federal Trade Commission

Consumer Response Center

600 Pennsylvania Avenue

NW

Washington, DC 20580

(877) 382-4357

TTY: (866) 653-4261

www.ftccomplaintassistant.g

ov

You should report crim-

inal activity to your lo-

cal police department

and sheriff’s office. You

should also report such

scams to the following

federal agencies, as

appropriate: