Post by Joanna on Jul 17, 2015 0:04:36 GMT -5
Ghost Hunters Plead Guilty to Church Vandalism
MINNEAPOLIS – Two of the self-dubbed ghost hunters accused of breaking into Litchfield's historic Ness Church last May have pled guilty to criminal damage to property. Court officials say 25-year-old Joseph Porter of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, entered the petition Tuesday afternoon and his sentencing has been set for September 9. Twenty-three-year-old Kyle Huber of Victoria entered the petition Wednesday morning. His sentencing is set for September 21. Huber was also charged with second-degree burglary. Court officials say a plea agreement reached with prosecutors would dismiss this as long as the judge accepts the plea.
Porter, Huber and 23-year-old Todd Suurmeyer of Sioux Falls are accused of breaking into Ness Church May 17 and damaging a monument. A fourth person, 24-year-old Brittani Roberts of Sioux Falls was also arrested in the incident, but subsequently released.
The suspects are accused of breaking windows to get into the church, which is near a burial site that played a key role in the 1862 US-Dakota War. The area has been the target of vandals for years and ghost enthusiasts claim it is haunted.
Along with breaking into the church, the suspects are accused of smashing part of a monument that marks where the first five of an eventual 490 war victims were buried.
Suurmeyer has a hearing scheduled for August and Roberts has not been charged, although her case remains under review.
Source: WCCO News, July 15, 2015.
See also: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/3755/ghost-hunters-jailed-breaking-church"]http://whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/3755/ghost-hunters-jailed-breaking-church
