Abby Nadeau
Staff Writer

It was a story that belonged on a day-time soap opera. A widowed, rich businessman seduces young girls and impregnates one.

The same man was also a “closet Muslim” who had plans to make the city of Forest Lake vulnerable for possible terrorist attacks.

This man happens to be the mayor of Forest Lake Stev Stegner.

Last fall rumors and allegations of Stegner’s past, present and future were circulated around the city of Forest Lake.

Stegner would eventually win the mayoral post and defeat incumbent Terry Smith and the rumors were quieted. Not entirely gone, but quiet.

As his term as mayor proceeded into the summer, Stegner was still dealing with various community members questioning his race and religion.

And instead of allowing the rumors and allegations to continue, Stegner decided to show the community of Forest Lake that smear and fear tactics will not be tolerated.

On Wednesday, Aug. 1 Stegner filed a lawsuit against the very people he believed slandered his name.

The suit named former Forest Lake mayor Terry Smith, Human Rights Commission members Dawn Nelson and Janice Ochs, Andy Meyer, Anne Gabriel, John Doe and Mary Roe.

An elaborate tale

Stegner’s sordid story begins with a phone call in late September of 2006 from a woman by the name of Sara Goldberg.

Ms. Goldberg told Stegner that her child, who attends a Forest Lake school had been discriminated against for being Jewish.

In Stegner’s complaint, Goldberg said she did not trust the current ayor Smith or the Human Right’s Commission Chair and asked if Stegner, who was running for Mayor at the time, would help her.

He obliged and agreed to meet her at the Holy Land Cafe in Minneapolis. Stegner, who asked James Heck to join him, took a seat at the cafe and waited.

Within minutes, Stegner and Heck were approached by a woman who said Goldberg would not be meeting them. Stegner said they left and he thought he would receive a phone call to reschedule.

He never received another phone call from Goldberg, but he did start to hear a rumor about someone visiting local businesses and talking to the owners about Stegner.

Ben Winnick, owner of Winnick Supply, Inc., spoke to Stegner about a conversation he had with Andy Meyer.

In a sworn affidavit, Winnick said Meyer came into his store and “pulled out what appeared to be a Wal-Mart one hour photo envelope with some pictures she explained were ‘government surveillance’ photographs taken by an unnamed national security agency in the course of a pending investigation.

“I recognized the pictures as having been taken at the ‘Holy Land’ cafe or restaurant in Minneapolis, which I had previously visited for Middle Eastern cuisine, and several showed Stev Stegner standing or sitting and talking with one of more others on the premises.”

Winnick goes on to say that Meyer “claimed” Stegner only became interested in Forest Lake politics when the water tower demolition was being discussed.

“Meyer contended having all water towers on one side of Trunk Highway 61 made the city more vulnerable to attack for some reason, and Stegner’s alleged interest in preservation of this tower was motivated by a scheme to subject Forest Lake to terrorist attack.”

Winnick shared the conversation with Stegner soon after.

The complaint states that Meyer didn’t stop with business owners and her tale soon turned from Stegner being a Muslim terrorist to a pedophile who preyed on young girls.

Allegedly Meyer told another woman “that Stegner was even a bad Muslim as a result of his preying upon underage Muslim girls with offers of money for sexual favors and having impregnated at least one young girl.”

Stegner’s complaint states that Gabriel spoke with Smith, Meyer and Nelson to try to attract the media to the story. She reportedly called the St. Paul Pioneer Press and both channels 5 and 9 to ask them to pick up the story.

“She...initially arranged a meeting at a Minneapolis cafe between three alleged female victims of Stegner, one of whom was pregnant, and a newspaper and television reporter...The girls did contend that night they were victims of Stegner, the ‘government surveillance photos’ were shared and the pregnant girl claimed to have more photos of Stegner and her, but failed to produce or describe them.”

The entire story of Stegner’s alleged seduction and abuse of the girls was told in an article written by Alex Friedrich of the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Sunday, November 26, 2006.

Friedrich, who attended a meeting with the girls, reported the girls were afraid to come forward for fear of “federal immigration agents who would find and deport them.”

Friedrich reported that the girls’ story unraveled when Stegner produced medical records stating he could not have impregnated a girl because of a procedure he’d under gone in 1991.

Friedrich’s story concludes that the girls then reportedly, by Gabriel, escaped to a safe home in Milwaukee, WI after immigration officials came looking for them.

They have not been heard of since.

Other allegations

In the complaint Stegner states that as the election neared, the allegations “became more widespread.”

“A woman at a local gas station reported overhearing a woman urging others to do everything possible to make sure Stegner was not elected Mayor. When asked why and for more information, she identified herself as Janice Ochs and warned Stegner was a “closet Muslim” and all Christians should make sure he was not elected.”

Stegner also received sworn affidavits stating Meyer, along with Nelson, approached their neighbors about Stegner.

Meyer and Nelson told their neighbors that Stegner was a known terrorist “with plans to target Forest Lake.”

Stegner also names Smith on his lawsuit because he “was fully aware of what the people below him were doing.”

The claim states that by “respondent Smith remaining silent while other Respondents acted with his knowledge, consent or connivance, Respondent Smith engaged in conduct for which Minn. Stat. 211B17 would have required forfeiture of municipal office if successful...”

Stegner has denied all of the allegations that were brought against him.

“I chose to take the high road and not be on the defensive,” Stegner said.

Stegner filed his lawsuit, with the help of his attorney Dale Swanson, on Wednesday, Aug. 1.

Administrative Law Judge Barbara Nielson, from the Minnesota Office of Administrative Hearings, dismissed the entire lawsuit on Friday, Aug. 3.

Stegner deferred any comments to his lawyer.

Swanson could not be reached after repeated phone calls and e-mail.

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