North Platte man sentenced in Fillmore County
by: The North Platte Bulletin - Apr. 13, 2021
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A North Platte man has been sentenced to the prison for 18 months for stealing from his mother.
Billy Phillips, 50, pled no contest to stealing more than $10,000 from his mother while she lived in a nursing facility in Fillmore County, about 50 miles east of Hastings. Phillips had power of attorney for his mother.
During the past five years, he withdrew money from his mother’s checking account and cashed her annuity checks, converting $10,495.30 of his mother’s money for his own use, the Nebraska attorney general’s office said.
Fillmore County Amish gray water case petitions U.S. Supreme Court
The January 2021 filing asks the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of four members of the Fillmore County Swartzentruber Amish community. 11:07 am, Mar. 2, 2021 ×
Members of the Fillmore County Swartzentruber Amish community have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case on whether the government can force them to install a septic system for the disposal of bath, laundry and dish water on their rural Fillmore County farms when it conflicts with their religious beliefs.
In a petition filed on Jan. 20, 2021, by attorney Brian Lipford, Ammon Swartzentruber, Menno Mast, Amos Mast and Sam Miller ask the high court to consider two questions under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act: Does the government have a compelling interest in regulating the disposal of gray water, which includes laundry, bath and dishwater; and, is a septic system the least restrictive method
Using a vehicle description, an investigator and a lieutenant were able to locate the suspect vehicle.
When a lieutenant stopped the vehicle, the investigator recognized Drake as the passenger. The driver told the investigator that he and Drake were out for a drive. Drake eventually admitted that he thought he had permission to take the catalytic converter from an individual that lived at the Hickory Road residence and that it was a mix up and that they were at the wrong place, the criminal complaint states. Drake later admitted that he was there to remove the catalytic converter off of the vehicle and that he did not have permission from anyone, the complaint reads.
Criminal case against hemp farmer is dismissed
The case was dismissed because one or more witnesses set to testify for the state are no longer available. 7:00 am, Feb. 8, 2021 ×
Luis Miguel Hummel walks out of Fillmore County District Court in Preston with St. Paul defense attorney Susan Johnson. (Noah Fish / Agweek)
PRESTON, Minn. The criminal case against Lanesboro, Minn., hemp farmer Luis Lulu Magoo Hummel has been dismissed.
The criminal complaint, which charged Hummel with felony fifth-degree drug sales, felony possession of a controlled substance and gross misdemeanor fifth-degree drug possession, was filed in Fillmore County District Court in June 2019. The jury trial was originally scheduled for April 2020, but was postponed multiple times because of the pandemic.
The charges came after products derived from hemp on Hummel s farm were seized in a March 2019 traffic stop and tested above the acceptable 0.3% threshold for THC content. Hummel was not in the car at the time of the stop, but the products came from hemp he was licensed by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture to sell.
In the notice of dismissal dated Dec. 4, Fillmore County Attorney Brett Corson wrote that one or more essential witnesses will be unavailable to testify at trial. With the case being delayed for quite some time, (some witnesses) are just no longer available, Corson said. That makes it pretty difficult to proceed to trial, so that s really what it came down to.