Mille Lacs

Ex-reserve deputy gets felony sex charges

A 28-year-old Isle man was charged with multiple counts of felony disseminating pornographic work involving a minor in Mille Lacs County.

Tyler Austin Pettit is charged with four felony counts of disseminating pornographic work involving a minor under the age of 14.

In an update video posted to Facebook on Sept. 19, Mille Lacs County Sheriff Kyle Burton informed the public that Pettit previously worked for the Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Office as a reserve deputy.

Burton explained that a reserve deputy is someone who is not a sworn officer; they are a volunteer who helps with community and special events in the county. He said they go through an extensive background check and training process when they are hired.

When Burton was informed by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force of the allegations, he placed Pettit on administrative leave on June 5.

He then contacted the Isanti County Sheriff’s Office to conduct an investigation into the allegations.

After several months of investigation, on Sept. 17, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Following the warrant being issued, Burton and other staff members went to Pettit’s residence, placed him under arrest and transported him to jail.

“I drove him to jail and I booked him in,” Burton said. “I felt that it was important that that come from me. That as the sheriff, I’m going to hold you accountable, especially if you are somebody who had previously represented this office and got involved in something like this.”

Pettit was booked into the Mille Lacs County Jail on Sept. 18. He is not currently in jail; his court documents show he posted a $20,000 bond with conditions on Sept. 19.

— Brainerd Dispatch

Wyoming

Wis. climber killed in fall from Devils Tower

A climber fell to his death while rappelling down Devils Tower, leaving his partner stranded without a rope on the face of the Wyoming geological formation.

The stuck climber was rescued unharmed after crying out for help Sunday evening, Devils Tower National Monument Superintendent Doug Crossen said Wednesday.

The death of Stewart Phillip Porter, 21, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Sunday, was the seventh climbing fatality in the park’s 118-year history. Some 6,000 people climb the formation every year.

The two were on a relatively easy climbing route called El Cracko Diablo. They had summited the tower and were headed back down when Porter fell.

How the fall happened was unknown. The accident was still being investigated, Crossen said.

Standing with sheer sides almost 870 feet above the surrounding countryside and a mile (1.6 kilometers) above sea level, Devils Tower is the world’s largest example of columnar jointing — fused pillars of igneous rock that formed as underground magma.

— Associated Press

Madison, Wis.

Woman enters stranger’s home, cooks dinner

A woman who made herself so at home in an apparent stranger’s house in Wisconsin that she prepared a shrimp and pasta dinner has been arrested for burglary.

The person who lives at the house arrived home late Tuesday night to find the lights on and someone inside, Madison police said in a report.

The woman was casually walking around inside when officers showed up and ordered her to come to the door. She “calmly advised officers that she had permission to be in the house from the resident,” the report said.

The woman also mentioned the resident by name to the officers and said she had been given the house keys earlier in the day after meeting the resident at a coffee shop.

In addition to cooking a meal, the woman “apparently inspected mail and other items to learn the name of the resident and fabricate a story,” the police report continued.

The person who lives in the house insisted to officers that she never met the woman who later was jailed.

— Associated Press

Wisconsin

DA investigates ballot drop box removal

A Wisconsin district attorney said Thursday that her office is pursuing an investigation into the removal of an absentee ballot drop box by the mayor of Wausau.

Mayor Doug Diny removed the drop box, located outside of City Hall, on Sunday and distributed a picture of himself doing it while wearing worker’s gloves and a hard hat. Diny is a conservative opponent to drop boxes. He insists he did nothing wrong.

The drop box was locked and no ballots were in it. The city clerk notified Marathon County District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon and she said in an email on Thursday that she is requesting an official investigation with the assistance of the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Wetzsteon said she was waiting to hear back from DOJ on her request.

A spokesperson for DOJ did not immediately return a message Thursday.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers weighed in on Thursday, calling the removal of the drop box “wrong.”

“Drop box voting is safe, secure, and legal,” Evers posted on the social media platform X. “As elected officials, we should be working to make it easier—not harder—for every eligible Wisconsinite to cast their ballot. That’s democracy.”

The Wisconsin Supreme Court in July ruled that drop boxes are legal, but left it up to local communities to decide whether to use them.

— Associated Press

Vernon County, Wis.

Man charged in 1985 killing of college student

A western Wisconsin man has been charged in the 1985 killing of a college student whose decapitated body was found days after she vanished, authorities said.

Michael Raymond Popp of Tomah was arrested Monday on one count of first-degree murder in the slaying of 24-year-old Terry Dolowy. He was being held at the Vernon County Jail on $1 million cash bail.

Popp, 60, had not retained an attorney as of Wednesday morning, the Vernon County Clerk’s Office said.

Prosecutors said Popp knew Dolowy, a River Forest, Illinois, native who was a senior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. At the time of her killing, he lived a short distance from where Dolowy lived in La Crosse County with her fiancé, according to a criminal complaint.

Dolowy went missing on Feb. 14, 1985, from her Barre Mills home. Days later, her decapitated and burning body was found in a roadside culvert in Vernon County.

DNA samples taken from Popp in January 2023 matched material found in Dolowy’s autopsy, according to the complaint.

— Associated Press