Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Criminal charges are pending this week in Washington County against a 17-year-old Forest Lake High School male student for allegedly creating a web page on MySpace.com that defamed and harassed a male teacher at the school.

Chief of Police Clark Quiring said the investigation was turned over to the Washington County Sheriffís Office because the student lives outside of Forest Lake and the web site was allegedly created at the studentís home.

Police in Forest Lake were notified of the web page on April 20, some eight days after the site was created on April 12, the chief said. The web page contained a photo, the teacherís name and biographical content that was construed as defamation and harassment, the chief said.

Quiring said the incident was reported to the school by a student on April 12. The web page was taken down a short time later, he said.

Lynn Steenblock, superintendent of schools, said a formal disciplinary process by the school would also be taken in addition to any criminal charges that the youth could face.

Quiring said the incident at the high school may be a copy cat case of incidents at two other high schools in the metro area where teachers were the subjects of unflattering content on student-created web pages on MySpace.com.

Man arrested

A St. Paul man was arrested in Forest Lake on April 30 on warrants and check forgery charges after he attempted to purchase items with a check at Wal-Mart, 200 SW 12th St.

Police were called to the store at 6 a.m. where they arrested David J. Branville, 35, of 930 Desota St. Store officials called police after the man attempted to purchase $356 in items with a suspicious check.

Branville was taken into custody for probable cause check forgery, altering a forged check, use of anotherís name and date of birth and use of an altered driverís license. He was also booked in the Washington County Jail on four felony warrants from Ramsey County, including one for a controlled substance crime.

Stolen car found

Police in Forest Lake recovered a car stolen in Maplewood after a Forest Lake resident called to report an attempted theft from vehicle at 6:30 a.m. on April 30 in the 900 block of SW 4th St. The resident was able to write down the license plate number of the car that sped from the home.

Police recovered the vehicle, a Chevrolet Trail Blazer, in the 200 block of SW 4th Ave. The vehicle was one of two stolen from a Maplewood home during the night.

Chief Quiring said the auto theft and attempted theft may be linked to a series of thefts from auto reported to police. The chief said police on Sunday received three reports of thefts from auto from SW 3rd Avenue and one from a home on SW 4th St.

The second vehicle stolen in Maplewood was not recovered by police, he said.

Other reports

In other reports here, police:

ïAssisted the Minnesota State Patrol and Chisago County at a multiple-vehicle accident on northbound I-35 north of US-8 during the rain at 4:45 p.m. Monday.

ïTook seven reports of thefts from lockers at Century Junior High School, 21395 Goodview Ave. N. where personal items, including a camera and an iPod were stolen, and one report from Forest Lake High School, 6101 Scandia Trail N., where a student told police $25 in cash was stolen.

ïRecovered a tub of kittens found in the parking lot at Menards, 22800 Everton Ave. N. on Saturday. The kittens were taken to Northwoods Humane Society in Forest Lake, police said.

Top of Page

Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605