Stupid people of the week

State employee charged with DWI and impersonating officer

A state employee who was arrested and charged this week after he reportedly impersonated a Minnesota state trooper is out of jail, court documents show.

Cristian Orea, 39, faces four misdemeanor charges in connection with an incident at a Minneapolis restaurant in which he was allegedly intoxicated and told staff he was with the Minnesota State Patrol.

The State Patrol confirmed that Orea is a Capitol Security Officer — a non-sworn member assigned to the Capitol complex. He is currently on leave.

According to court documents, Minneapolis police were called to Puerto Ceracruzano at 331 Lake St. E. just after midnight Monday on reports of a man who attempted to enter a restaurant with a gun.

Callers told police the man claimed he was an undercover officer on site for a narcotics investigation. The man, later identified as Orea, reportedly showed a picture of his badge on his phone, which displayed the text “State Patrol” at the top.

Staff at the restaurant claimed Orea appeared to be intoxicated and was wearing a holstered firearm.

A spokesperson for the State Patrol says Capitol Security officers are not provided firearms and are not allowed to carry a firearm while on duty.

Security at the restaurant told Orea he could enter, so long as he was not armed. Orea then reportedly became upset and told them they should not “interfere with (his) investigation.”

Court documents said Orea then stopped two men who were attempting to leave the restaurant without paying, placing his hand on his gun and threatening to arrest them if they didn’t pay.

While Orea continued to tell others at the restaurant that he was a police officer, staff called the Minneapolis Police Department to verify his claims. After police advised staff that Orea was not an officer and to call 911, Orea reportedly ran out of the restaurant and into his car, driving away.

Police later found Orea driving and pulled him over. Orea told police he worked for the State Patrol, and after refusing to perform sobriety tests, Orea told the officer to “just book me.”

Orea reportedly continued to claim he worked with the Minnesota State Patrol while he was booked and failed field sobriety tests done at the police station. Police said they attempted to draw blood and urine from Orea for a test, who had initially agreed.

However, when it came time to perform the test, Orea continued to avoid it and then asked to be arrested instead.

Orea is facing charges of refusing to submit to a chemical test, fourth-degree DWI, carrying a pistol while under the influence, and impersonating a peace officer — all misdemeanor offenses.

He was released from custody on Tuesday, and his first appearance in Hennepin County Court is set for July 29.

The full statement from Minnesota State Patrol Colonel Christina Bogojevic can be read below:

The Minnesota State Patrol is committed to integrity, accountability and building and maintaining public trust. We hold all our employees to the highest ethical and professional standards, both on and off duty. Any allegation that those standards are not met is followed by appropriate action in accordance with agency policy.

The allegations contained in the criminal complaint do not reflect our core values or those who wear the Capitol Security uniform with pride.

Capitol Security Officer Cristian Orea has been placed on leave.

We remain focused on serving the public with courage, honor, integrity, excellence and a deep respect for the responsibilities entrusted to us.

Source; KSTP

Steve Miller Band cancels Minnesota State Fair Grandstand show due to climate change

Actually, they cancelled the whole North American tour. Because of climate change. Now we really can call them “The Joker.”

Citing climate change, the Steve Miller Band has canceled their upcoming 31-date North American tour, which includes an Aug. 28 stop at the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand.

“The combination of extreme heat, unpredictable flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes and massive forest fires make these risks for you our audience, the band and the crew unacceptable. So …You can blame it on the weather… The tour is canceled,” reads an announcement on the band’s website. “Don’t know where, don’t know when… We hope to see you all again.”

Ticket buyers who purchased from Etix or the Minnesota State Fair using a credit card will automatically receive a refund. Others should return to the point of purchase for a refund.

State Fair officials learned the news Wednesday evening and have yet to announce a replacement act.

While it’s not unusual for a tour to cancel shows due to weather issues, Variety notes this may be the first time an entire tour was canceled due to climate change.

Led by 81-year-old Milwaukee native Steve Miller, the group released seven albums to little commercial success, but broke through to the mainstream with 1973’s “The Joker.” The band’s biggest hits include “Take the Money and Run,” “Fly Like an Eagle,” “Jet Airliner,” “Rock’n Me” and “Abracadabra.”

Miller earned headlines in 2016 when he was nominated to the Rock Hall as a solo artist. He told Rolling Stone: “I kind of enjoyed having people complain that I wasn’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame more than I think I’ll like being in it.” After the induction ceremony, Miller further vented to the magazine in an expletive-filled rant about the ceremony and the music business in general.

The Minnesota State Fair runs from Aug. 21 through Sept. 1.

Source; Pioneer Press

Milwaukee-area cop quit last police job after appearing to miss 200+ work hours

A police officer forced out of a suburban Milwaukee department for appearing to skip a lot of work and claiming many questionable comp days is now working for a small-town department in Waukesha County.

Amanda Lang resigned from the Glendale Police Department in 2021 after an internal investigation found she had more than 230 paid hours unaccounted for between 2019-2021. At her wage of $40 an hour, those hours added up to $9,300, the investigation noted.

“Based on the discovery of leaving early, along with the substantial number of full shifts not accounted for, one can only wonder how many other times she has left significantly early without documentation,” then-Captain Rhett Fugman wrote in his investigation, which The Badger Project obtained in a records request.

The captain recommended Lang be fired, and she resigned in April of 2021.

She worked for Glendale in the Milwaukee suburbs for more than 13 years, rising to the level of sergeant, before her resignation.

“As a sergeant, additional responsibility and trust was provided to Sgt. Lang,” Fugman wrote. “Her actions and inactions displayed regarding leaving early and posting off time over the last two plus years have displayed a lack of integrity, honesty and trustworthiness.”

“These characteristics are the foundation of what we are as police officers,” he continued.

Lang was hired by the Lannon Police Department later in 2021 and has worked there since.

Lannon Police Chief Daniel Bell said his department “follows rigorous background checks and screening procedures for all new hires to ensure they align with the standards and integrity expected of our officers,” including for Lang.

“During the interview process, we were satisfied with her explanation of the situation,” Bell said of her resignation.

Lang is “consistently demonstrating professionalism, dedication, and a strong commitment to community policing,” he added.

She has been promoted to lieutenant at the 12-officer department.

Another officer employed by the Lannon Police Department, Nathaniel Schweitzer, was forced out of the police department in the Town of Waterford in Racine County late last year. Like Lang, he “resigned prior to the completion of an internal investigation,” according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s database on officers who left a law enforcement position under negative circumstances.

More at the source; The Badger Project

US hikers reported a death. But they imagined it while high on mushrooms

A pair of hikers in New York called emergency services to report that a third member of their group had died, but when a park ranger responded to rescue them it turned out they were just high on hallucinogenic mushrooms, officials say.

The third hiker was uninjured – and not dead – and the hikers were “in an altered mental state”, according to a report issued by parks officials.

The incident took place on 24 May on Cascade Mountain in the Adirondacks High Peaks of upstate New York.

The third person also called 911 during the hike, “and was not injured”, the report states. They were allowed to continue their camping trip, while the pair were taken to police.

Details of the backcountry saga were reported on Wednesday in a weekly bulletin by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

It describes how a forest ranger responded to the 911 call of a “reportedly deceased hiker”, after the pair called “to report the third member of their hiking party had died” and that they were lost.

Before the ranger arrived to find the group, they met a “summit steward” whose job is to stand at the top of the mountain to ensure the conservation of the sensitive alpine habitat.

The two hikers told the steward they were lost, the report chronicles.

A ranger then arrived and “escorted the two hikers, who had ingested hallucinogenic mushrooms, to a waiting ambulance and New York State Police unit”.

The third hiker was taken back to their campsite, officials said.

None of the hikers were named in the reports, and it is unclear whether they are in any legal trouble following the bad trip.

Psychedelic mushrooms are illegal for recreational use in New York, however there have been several bills introduced in the state legislature to legalise it.

Its use has been legalised in at least one US state, but it remains illegal across most of the US and is outlawed on the federal level.

Source; BBC

Category: "Teh Stoopid", Crime, Police, Stupid Criminals