Election worker fired after man finds boxes of unsecured ballots in parking lot: 'Totally unacceptable'



Election officials in Minnesota fired a ballot courier last week after Republicans spotted unsecured ballots in the back of a van.

While walking through the parking lot of the Edina City Hall on Oct. 18, a man spotted a Hennepin County courier vehicle with the rear door ajar. Inside the back of the van were approximately a dozen boxes of unsecured ballots.

'This is exactly what can't happen.'

Surveillance video shows the unsecured ballots were left exposed in the parking lot for nearly 10 minutes.

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The eyewitness who snapped the photograph of the unsecured ballots told KSTP-TV that he is concerned about a fair election, telling the news station, "This is exactly what can't happen."

One day after that witness spotted the ballots, Hennepin County officials released a statement acknowledging a "lapse in protocol" had occurred.

"The protocol for transporting ballots is that they are to be secured at all times and Hennepin County has alerted its courier of this incident," county officials said. "Hennepin County acknowledges that this lapse in protocol occurred, should not have happened, and is unacceptable. Corrective actions have been taken by the county and its courier to prevent any recurrence."

Officials, moreover, fired the election worker who left the ballots unsecured.

Because of the security lapse, Hennepin County officials inspected the unsecured ballots and determined all remain legitimate.

The statement explained:

Hennepin County has determined that all expected ballots have been accounted for and found no evidence of tampering with sealed transfer cases. This is done by comparing the ballots received from the courier with the record in the Statewide Voter Registration System for all absentee ballots accepted by cities. The comparison demonstrated a 100% match. This step is routine in the ballot integrity process, occurring with every transfer.

County staff have also inspected individual ballots and determined that absentee ballot envelopes within the cases were received in sealed condition. This inspection is also a routine election integrity process.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon (D), meanwhile, said the incident "was totally unacceptable," yet he still chalked it up as a "teachable moment."

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Police find teardrop-tattooed suspect and 11 illegal aliens at site of alleged pedophilic gang rape in Minnesota



A teardrop-tattooed 22-year-old is in custody and 11 illegal aliens are on their way to possibly being deported after police executed a search warrant at the suspected ground zero of a pedophilic gang rape in Bemidji, Minnesota.

The Bemidji Police Department noted in a statement Thursday that it received an assault complaint on Sept. 23 from the Sanford Bemidji Medical Center's emergency department. An 11-year-old girl who had been brought to the clinic with grievous injuries indicated that she had been molested.

According to the BPD, officers were left with several possible addresses where the alleged rape might have occurred after speaking to the adults who brought the girl to the clinic's emergency department.

Detectives and other members of law enforcement ultimately determined that 1821 America Court NW in Bemidji, an unassuming one-story house on a dead-end road, was where the girl had been victimized.

Alpha News reported that the victim told officials that she had been in the care of a drunken woman whom she called "auntie," identified by KFGO as Verna Fairbanks.

The victim said that Fairbanks "wanted to go to a party."

Fairbanks allegedly prompted the victim to get into the "Mexican guys'" car. A bag was then placed over their heads for the duration of the drive to 1821 America Court NW.

The charging documents indicate further that at the destination, the victim was stripped and tied up in a room along with two other girls.

Fairbanks allegedly cajoled her to consume alcohol before tying a rope around the 11-year-old girl's neck, which caused her to bleed.

During the nightmarish ordeal, one of the other female victims was reportedly rendered "bloody and unconscious," then dumped in a closet.

The 11-year-old, meanwhile, was reportedly raped by the "four Mexican men present," including one individual who reportedly went by "Panda" and had "lots of tattoos," including a teardrop on his face — often a nonverbal boast of having killed someone or spent time in prison.

When another victim attempted to help the 11-year-old escape by untying her, the charging documents suggested the illegal alien known as Panda threw her down the stairs.

When police executed a search warrant late last month, they found 22-year-old Oscar Ernesto Luna inside. Police suspect that Luna and "Panda" are one and the same, since his unique facial tattoos and piercings match the victim's description.

Luna was arrested on a warrant from Hennepin County and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, the maximum sentence for which is 30 years in prison. Luna, previously charged with a DUI in July, was thrown into the Beltrami County Jail on Sept. 26. According to the jail, Luna has been specifically charged with rape of a minor.

The alleged rapist consented to providing a DNA sample to police, claimed he was an American, and denied any wrongdoing.

Inside the house, police also found numerous other individuals, eleven of whom were taken by U.S. Border Patrol to be processed as illegal aliens.

BPP Chief Mike Mastin told KVLY-TV that no additional arrests have been made in the case, noting he could not provide insights into whether police are looking for more suspects as it is an active investigation.

Bemidji Police Capt. David LaZella noted the other victims have not yet been identified, reported KFGO.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection indicated that it has arrested 12,659 illegal aliens with one or more previous criminal conviction so far this fiscal year; 253 of the foreign nationals' criminal convictions were for sexual offenses; 24 were for murder; 1,049 were for assault, battery, and/or domestic violence.

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Judge in George Floyd Murder Trial Rejects Evidence of 'Diversionary' Behavior in 2019 Drug Arrest

The judge presiding over the trials of four police officers in connection with the alleged murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota, has kicked Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and his staff off the case.