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On January 15, 2013, the Director of the Office of Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility (OLPR), responding to a formal complaint, determined East Grand Forks (EGF) City Attorney Ronald Galstad would not be disciplined by the Minnesota Lawyer Board - without there first being an investigation.

“You may seek resolution of these matters through the city council and/or court action. In the event a court or other authoritative body determines Mr. Galstad engaged in conduct which would constitute a violation of the Rule of Professional Conduct, you may re-submit these allegations, with supporting documentation,” said Martin Cole, director, OLPR. READ OLPR DETERMINATION

Many believe the time has come for that investigation.

Ronald Galstad

As regional news begins to expose the corruption that led to the massive loan scandal involving the City of EGF and Boardwalk Enterprises – with Galstad, Jensen, and McCann right in the middle of the firestorm – the public is becoming aware that something is terribly wrong in East Grand Forks.

WDAZ and The Herald have reported that EGF city officials borrowed $510,000 though the Economic Development and Housing Authority and then never made any loan payments for a decade – and it wasn’t the first time.

The corruption being exposed by WDAZ and The Herald is clearly systemic.

But what many in the public are only learning about - others knew about - and actively attempted to alert authorities.

In 2012, Timothy Charles Holmseth (this writer throughout) filed a complaint to the OLPR against EGF City Attorney Ronald Galstad, asserting Galstad abused his prosecutorial discretion in order to protect a criminal enterprise.

Galstad ordered Holmseth, a former, award-winning government news reporter, to be arrested, jailed, and criminally charged for the purpose of silencing and discrediting him.

Galstad’s use of taxpayer money to make Holmseth look like a criminal succeeded only for a season.

The situation that finally exploded between Holmseth and the City of EGF in 2011 actually began in 2009, when Holmseth interviewed individuals from Florida that were suspected by state and federal law enforcement of kidnapping HaLeigh Ann-Marie Cummings, 5.

Holmseth had journalistically infiltrated a human trafficking child sex ring.

The responsive behavior of the EGFPD and Galstad to the national attention Holmseth brought is quite telling, and reveals local officials were extremely paranoid and wanted to keep a very low profile.

While Holmseth met with the Minneapolis FBI at the request of the Jacksonville FBI, and provided that federal agency useful information, local police records show the EGFPD was communicating with the kidnapping suspects from Florida, and Lt. Rodney Hajicek, EGFPD,  was soliciting Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth to find something to charge Holmseth with.

Attorney Widseth took no action because Holmseth wasn’t committing any crimes.

In 2010, Holmseth’s diligence resulted in the sudden re-instatement of HaLeigh Cummings’ cancelled Amber Alert, shortly after Florida law enforcement announced to television media the child was considered dead.

The shocking development in the missing child case was the result of Holmseth’s recorded journalistic interviews, and a secret public document Holmseth forced Florida authorities to turn over, with the help of the FBI, which revealed HaLeigh Cummings was very much alive on April 26, 2009. The revelations embarrassed the Florida Sheriff that had just gone on television and asserted the child was thrown into the St. John’s River the night she vanished.

In January of 2011, Holmseth released a book about the missing child case.

Between January and November of 2011, Galstad and the EGFPD continued their relationship with individuals in Florida as plans were mad to silence Holmseth.

In November of 2011, Galstad and the EGFPD arrested Holmseth for violating a fraudulent court order regarding Holmseth’s publication, a shananigan, issued in the state of Florida by a divorce court. Although the Florida court had absolutely no jurisdiction over Holmseth; and the EGFPD had no legal venue to bring the charge; they just did it anyway.

The collusion was obvious.

Holmseth refused to plead guilty.

In July of 2012 Holmseth wrote a detailed synopsis that outlined the disturbing extent of the public corruption in Polk County, Minnesota, and submitted it to United States Attorney B. Todd Jones.

In October of 2012, when Holmseth insisted on a jury trial, Michael LaCoursiere, public defender, told Holmseth that Galstad was going to call two police officers (EGFPD Sgt. Chris Olson and Polk County Sheriff’s Deputy Jesse Haugen) to lie on the stand if he refused to accept a no-contest plea. “[The cops] want you in St. Cloud. You won’t see your kids anymore,” LaCoursiere said.

Lacoursiere repeatedly told Holmeth the cops had a "plan" to put him in state prison.

In December of 2012, two days after a failed attempt by Galstad to have Holmseth adjudicated guilty by Honorable Tamara Yon, EGFPD officers, armed and wearing bullet proof vests, poured into Holmseth’s home-office, seized his hard-drive and all of his journalism equipment. The warrant allowed the EGFPD to take the property and hold it – but did not direct any law enforcement to search the hard-drive.

The rolling deception was well-planned and elaborate – but – it soon fell apart.

The EGFPD placed Minnesota Department of Public Safety (MDPS) / Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) stickers on Holmseth’s property. Records from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) later revealed law enforcement executed their raid under the guise of a Pine-to-Prairie Gang and Drug Task Force operation.

After the raid, Galstad told Honorable Yon during a court hearing he was working with the BCA to obtain a second warrant that would allow the BCA to forensically search Holmseth’s hard-drive.

Galstad never requested the second search warrant.

Because - Galstad was lying to the Judge – and it would later be revealed – Galstad and the Sheriff’s Office had already been secretly entering Holmseth’s hard-drive.

The level of calculated deception by Galstad, the EGFPD, and PCSO was over the top criminal. READ PROSECUTORIAL MISCONDUCT COMPLAINT

In December of 2013 Holmseth contacted the MDPS and BCA regarding their involvement with his hard-drive. He received a statement from Drew Evans, assistant superintendent, BCA. “We were not requested to conduct a forensic examination on your computer. The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had no involvement in this case.  I see the BCA Evidence sticker in the photo; however, we did not actively participate in this case,” Evans said.

The statement by the BCA proved Galstad stood in a courtroom and fed a fairytale to a district judge without as much as blinking.

Sgt. Michael Norland, investigator, PCSO, stated in court that he searched Holmseth’s hard drive in April of 2012 but found nothing illegal. However, no ‘chain of evidence’ for Holmseth’s property was kept, and no ‘record of examination’ was generated when his hard-drive was searched – for four months the hard-drive had simply ‘disappeared’.

Galstad used Holmseth’s property as a bargaining chip during negotiations, demanding Holmseth remove articles critical of public officials from his website if he wanted the charges to be dropped.

The hard-drive was ordered returned to Holmseth on April 26, 2013 – inoperable.

EGF City Administrator Scott Huizenga resigned on April 29, 2013.

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