Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 35

MetroState FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3 2000 STAR TRIBUNE' PAGE B5 Solicitation charges against judge dropped Crime, courts and public safety Minneapolis man charged with giving candy containing needles A Minneapolis man was charged Thursday with putting nt'HIPs candy bars on Halloween and giving them to children near W. 'take St. and Harriet Av. S. ij James J.

Smith, 49, was charged with felony adulteration, which means to make something impure. The charge by the Hennepin County attorney's office says that he knew or should have known that adding the needles could cause harm and that he intended to do so. Smith was arrested about 6 p.m. Tuesday after four teenagers told police that he gave them candy bars on Grand Avenue near Lake Street. They began to eat the candy and found the needles, the charging document says.

A 14-year-old bit into a bar and was stuck by port, officers thought Albertson was soliciting for three reasons: They saw him apparently talking to a woman known to be a prostitute, they watched him circle the SRme blnrk tbre times after they stopped him, they found two $20 bills on the car's front console and his wallet under the seat "a common practice of johns," the report says. Anderson dismissed the circumstances as insignificant. "I better not get stopped, because I've got my wallet underneath my seat all the time. And keeping money in the console is not unusual," he said. Police spokeswoman Cyndi Montgomery said that she had no comment but that police hadn't been making a special effort to ticket for prostitution that night.

Smulski could not be reached for comment. Kevin Duchschere can be reached at kduchscherestartribune.com bered visiting a few years ago. Albertson, a self-described avid hobbyist, said he had just finished officiating at a wedding at the Calhoun Beach Club and de- (irjrj trj lrp gt sbp bTe driving home. "1 seemed to remember that it was on the corner of Lake and a street beginning with the letter he said. Anderson said Albertson was looking for the Woodcraft Hobby Shop at Lake and Bryant Av.

S. that closed in 1996. Paul Newman, Woodcraft's owner, said at the news conference that Albertson used to shop there. Woodcraft is now Phoenix Games, which Albertson didn't recognize. Instead, he drove past Bloomington Avenue and circled the block at Cedar and Lake before being stopped by police at 32nd St.

and 18th Av. S. and issued the ticket. According to the police re as a judge, was cited for solicitation Oct. 20 by Sgt.

Don Smulski, who reported seeing him talking to a prostitute at E. Lake St. and Cedar Av. about 8 p.m. and then cirrllng the blo''k three times.

The case was sent to the Bloomington city attorney's office because a relative of Albert-son works for the city of Minneapolis, Anderson said. On Wednesday, Associate Blooming-ton City Attorney Ann Harbinson told Minneapolis officials that there was "no evidence to prove that Mr. Albertson acted with intent to solicit prostitution or any other act prohibited by law." Harbinson said Thursday that two police reports say nothing about an exchange of money and don't make it clear whether Albertson talked to the prostitute. Albertson denies speaking to anyone. Albertson said he was trying to find a hobby shop he remem By Kevin Duchschere Star Tribune Staff Writer Prostitution-related charges against retired Washington County JnHgp Howard R.

Albort-son were dropped after prosecutors determined there was no evidence that he intended to solicit a prostitute in Minneapolis two weeks ago. At a news conference Thursday, Albertson said that although he believes the Minneapolis police officer who tagged him violated his civil rights, he doesn't plan to sue the city. "I would like him to pursue a civil rights action, but a civil suit is another ordeal that he frankly doesn't want to undertake," said Jeffrey Anderson, Albertson's attorney. "He just wants to go back to his private life and his public duties." Albertson, 72, of Stillwater, who continues to work part time a needle, but he didn need medical care. Police also found small needles in candy that Smith had given to three children, the document says.

Police haven't received any more reports of bars with needles or anybody else who was injured because of the bars. Smith is being held in the Hennepin County jail in lieu of $25,000 bail. David Chanen Police find woman's remains related to year-old killing VIRGINIA, MINN. Police have found human bones believed to he those of Michele Savage, 26, missing for almost a year and presumed killed. The remains were found Sunday in the woods about 20 miles southeast of Virginia.

0 James D. Sharbonda, 44, a construction worker from Virginia, was 'chareed last week with second-deeree murder and interference with a BABY from Bl -body. He confessed to policcin Seattle, to killing Savage in -January and disposing of her body. Sharbonda's next hearing is scheduled for Monday. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail in the St.

Louis County jail. Foster mother says girl visits the baby and calls regularly baby in danger. "She has the capacity to be a fit parent," Kane said in urging the judge not to terminate her parental rights. Karim El-Ghazzawy, attorney for Dondlinger, also asked Lefler not to end the teen's rights. He cited a social worker's report that said the case should be treated with compassion, not punitively, and said that working toward reuniting the mother and baby is the only logical course.

"Egregious harrrf Assistant County Attorney Andrew Mitchell said the case isn't about the mother's conduct during supervised visits, but the lack of reasonable care she showed in the past. "A child was left in a sealed garbage bag in a neighbor's garbage can in winter for good," he said. And Mitchell argued that the failure of the mother to tell anyone about the baby hitting her head in the shower was neglect "This child suffered egregious harm at her mother's hands," he said. "Is it in the best interest of this child that this parent has a second chance?" Margaret Zack can be contacted at mzackstartribune.com to parent. She is naturally good with (the baby), nurturing and caring," the foster mother said.

She said her three children and her other foster child also are excited to see the teenager because she gets down on the floor to play and sings to them. Psychologist Linda Pettersen of Hennepin County Medical Center and psychiatrist Dr. Benita Dieperink testified Wednesday that the teenage mother had denied her pregnancy, a psychological coping mechanism. She had no prenatal care and testified that she hadn't thought she was pregnant. The experts said she had a temporary disas-sociative episode at the time of the birth, which means her reality was distorted and she wasn't conscious of events.

John Jackson, a social worker at Roosevelt High School, testified Thursday that he saw the girl at school every day and didn't have a clue that she was pregnant. "I was shocked," he said about hearing of the baby's birth. The teenager's attorney, John Kane, told Lefler in his closing statement Thursday that mother and child have bonded and that there was no evidence beyond the time of birth that the mother has acted inappropriately or put her her testified Tuesday that the skull fracture was consistent with what the mother said happened, but that the teen didn't explain how the other injuries had occurred. The baby is doing fine, and her development is average or above average, a pediatrician said. The county prosecutors also want to end the 21 -year-old father's parental rights.

His case will be heard later. The lawyers for the county, mother and guardian are to submit briefs to Lefler by Dec. 1, and he will issue a ruling after that. 'Nurturing and caring The child's foster mother testified Thursday that the mother visits the baby three times a week and calls every day. The foster parent demonstrated in the witness stand how the infant waves, smiles and bounces when she sees her mother, showing that she wants to be picked up.

"I do think she has the ability If she thought the mother would harm the baby, the guardian said, she wouldn't make the recommendation. In asking that the mother's parental rights be terminated, the county said the baby suffered egregious harm while in the teen's care, indicating lack of regard for the child's well-being. The mother also has been charged in Juvenile Court with undisclosed crimes. She wrapped the baby in a towel, put her in a garbage bag, tied it shut and placed her in a neighbor's garbage outdoors. The teen's brother and sister, who thought they had heard a baby cry, told their mother, and the child was found two or three hours after being put in the trash, according to testimony.

The baby, who had a body temperature of 85 degrees when she was taken to the hospital, had a skull fracture, bruises on her chest and scrapes on her forehead and one eye. The doctor who had examined Associated Press Woman gets four years in drunken-driving death FERGUS FALLS, MINN. A woman who pleaded guilty to killing a retired state trooper while driving drunk has been sentenced to four years in prison. Tiffany Jo Reynolds, 26, must serve at least 32 months in prison for the criminal vehicular homicide conviction. She apologized for the pain she brought to the family of Fred Petersen, 55.

Reynolds drove with a blood-alcohol level of 0.16 percent last July. Associated Press 4 S.D. county sued over Minnesota girl's strip search SIOUX FALLS, S.D. The family of a Minnesota girl who was strip-searched after breaking curfew last year is suing Minnehaha County. Jodie Smook, 17, and her parents, Randy and Vicky of Luverne, filed suit Wednesday in U.S.

District Court. They also are seeking a i class-action suit against the county, the former director of its Juvenile Detention Center and two unnamed detention-center officers. The family is seeking unspecified financial damages and an injunction on strip searches for juveniles. No trial date was set. Jodie Smook, then 16, and three friends had car trouble in Sioux Falls and were caught violating curfew shortly after midnight Aug.

8, 1999. At the Juvenile Detention Center, they were taken separately into a bathroom where a female officer told each to disrobe. She searched each girl's clothing before allowing her to get dressed. The girls also were asked about church attendance. Smook's parents said they weren't notified until after their daughter had been searched and checked into the Detention Center.

After media attention and public scrutiny, county officials began new procedures for curfew violators. They said teens no longer are Questioned about church attendance or religious affiliation. Curfew violators are held separately from other detainees unless their parents can't be reached to pick them up, said Todd Cheever, center director. The suit accuses the county of violating the girls' civil rights and their rights to freedom of religion. Associated Press Man found shot to death is identified Authorities released the identity Thursday of a man who was found shot to death early Tuesday on a north Minneapolis street.

Marvin Rulford, 21, had no permanent address, according to the Hennepin County medical examiner's office. Police found his body at Oak Park and Newton Avs. N. about 12:50 a.m. Tuesday.

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