Author: Jim Bayer

Bridges in Eden Prairie – including one built over 100 years ago – are in overall good shape, according to City of Eden Prairie and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) data. City and state inspection data reviewed by EPLN show bridge structures, including short, narrow wooden ones, all the way up to six-lane freeway bridges carrying thousands of vehicles every day, fall into the good or very good category in inspection reports. There are 89 bridges within Eden Prairie’s city limits. About 65 of those belong to the city, many of which are along walking and biking trails. The…

A Minneapolis man has been charged with possession of burglary tools used to steal catalytic converters in a July 28 incident in Eden Prairie. Dustin Raymond Sellman, 51, was arrested by Eden Prairie police near the intersection of Valley View Road and Washington Ave. S. shortly after 2 a.m. after admitting to police that he had removed 10 catalytic converters from vehicles nearby. According to the criminal complaint: An officer was patrolling the area because of a high volume of recent catalytic converter and trailer thefts. He was aware that the businesses were all closed and did not have overnight…

A nationwide arrest warrant has been issued for a St. Paul man charged in the April 18 drug overdose of a toddler in Eden Prairie. Lamondre Calvin Reece, 25, has been charged in Hennepin County District Court with endangering a child in a situation that could cause harm or death. According to the criminal complaint: Eden Prairie police responded to an apartment complex on Anderson Lakes Parkway on a report of an unresponsive child. Officers found Reece and an unnamed co-defendant, referred to as S.H., along with the unresponsive 2-year-old. Paramedics arrived and transported the child to Children’s Hospital. While…

Criminal charges related to several Eden Prairie cases have been filed by the Hennepin County District Attorney in the 4th Judicial District. Criminal sexual conduct/nonconsensual contact Rocklyn Orion Weege, 70, of Eden Prairie, has been charged with fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony, related to an April 1 incident in Eden Prairie. According to the criminal complaint: A woman came to the Eden Prairie Police Department on April 14 to report an incident that occurred on April 1 at an extended stay hotel in Eden Prairie. She said that she and Weege met at the hotel, and he asked her…

The Eden Prairie School District has filed an application to receive more than $2.5 million in Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grants to help purchase 10 electric school buses and charging systems. The EPA allows qualifying districts to replace up to 25 buses. But eligible buses need to be 2010 or older models, which reduces the amount of grant funds available. “EP currently operates just 10 buses in our fleet in that range,” Jason Mutzenberger, district executive director of business services, said in an email to EPLN. “We applied (in June) to replace all 10 with these funds.” Even though the…

A 23-year-old Shakopee man has been charged with four felony criminal counts, all related to a police undercover prostitution operation. Franklin Alexander Segovia Lopez is charged with prostitution for agreeing to hire someone he believed to be ages 13 to 16. Count II charges Lopez with soliciting a child to engage in sexual conduct. Counts III and IV relate to using electronic communication to solicit a child to engage in sexual conduct, or engaging or describing sexual conduct with a child. According to the police complaint: Eden Prairie police joined several other law enforcement agencies in an undercover prostitution and…

Morning sun glistened off the calm surface of Bryant Lake on a recent Friday, broken only by the wake of a sleek rowing shell propelled by four female high school seniors. The four young women – Ashleigh Reid, 17, and Claire Koehler, 16 – both of whom attend Eden Prairie High School (EPHS); Adrienne Mongeon, 18, who attends Lakeville South High School; and Elodie Jones, 17, who attends Edina High School – are members of the varsity rowing team at the Twin City Youth Rowing Club (TCYRC) located in Eden Prairie. Coxswain Ella Muilenburg, 17, who also attends EPHS, steered…

An Eden Prairie man has been charged in Hennepin County District Court with four counts of assault, including two on unborn twins born prematurely after a June 30 incident. Donatus Ray Harrell, 41, was arrested July 27 and is charged with first-degree assault causing great bodily harm and domestic assault by strangulation of his girlfriend, and two counts of first-degree assault of an unborn child resulting from assault on a pregnant woman. According to the police complaint: Police responded to a report of domestic assault at an Eden Prairie address early on June 30. Harrell’s girlfriend of eight years told…

Eden Prairie’s representative in Congress does not want President Joe Biden to run for reelection as president in 2024, according to media accounts of a July 28 interview on WCCO Radio. Phillips, who represents the Third District which comprises Eden Prairie and much of the western suburbs, told radio host Chad Hartman that he thinks Biden should step aside for a “new generation” of leadership in the White House, according to a Star Tribune report. When Hartman asked Phillips if he shared the apprehension of other Democrats about Biden seeking a second term, he replied, “I have respect for Joe…

A 79-year-old man from Eden Prairie drowned July 23 in Table Rock Lake in the southwest corner of Missouri near Branson, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol. The patrol’s report identified the victim as Eugene M. Nelson. No other information was available. According to the report, Nelson was swimming in the lake when he began to struggle. He then went underwater and drowned, the report said. Nelson’s body was recovered the following day and he was pronounced dead at 11:47 a.m. by the Taney County Coroner, according a report in the Branson Tri-Lakes News. According to that same report, Nelson…