Internal Report Details Criminal accusations against former Minot Police officer

Minot-A investigation report in charge of the city of Minot emits a hard light on the former Lieutenant of the Minot Matt McLeod police, revealing a pattern of dishonesty, violations of the department policy and inappropriate conduct in the workplace, everything while McLeod was subject to criminal investigations outside the State in the accusations of sexual aggression and sexual abuse.

The report, which I obtained through a request for open records, was written by Yvette Heintzelman, of the law firm Clark Hill, based in Chicago, and Thomas Kotlowski, by Clarity One Solutions, a consulting Crystal Lake, Illinois, and now it has become a containment number in the trial of Nichole Rice, a woman Minot, a Minot woman.

accused of the murder in 2007 of the student of the State University of Minot, Anita Knutson.

His release occurs after McLeod

He died in January

of a self -inflicted gunshot wound in the property of the Minot Police Department. The investigation began in December 2024, with the final report issued on March 6.

“The purpose of this report is to carry out the investigation that should have been carried out when the boss (John) Klug was notified of the criminal investigation on the conduct of Lieutenant McLod to determine whether the rules or policies were violated and evaluated the potential impact on the city and the department,” says the report.

Klug resigned on January 6

In the midst of the dispute on its management of the department after a separate investigation of Clark Hill.

The report details the accusations originated in Ada County, Idaho, and the Butte-Silver Bow County, Montana, where McLeod had claimed sexually to a minor.

The alleged behavior in Montana involved sexual contact when the victim was approximately 4 years old. In Idaho, the accusations involved sexual contact when the victim was approximately 10 years old.

The North Dakota Criminal Investigation Office helped both agencies outside the State in their investigations, managing a polygraph exam to McLeod, who failed. McLeod was derogatory with the findings in his interview with Clark Hill, saying that they told him that the polygraphs were only “88%” precise. The city’s assistant lawyer, Corbin Dickerson, who, according to the report, previously worked as a Minister of Special Victims, reviewed the police reports and was concerned about McLeod’s failed polygraph.

Ultimately, no charges occurred in any of the jurisdiction, and both cases remain “inactive” pending additional evidence.

The Minot Police Department did not carry out its own investigation when KLUG was notified of criminal investigations.

Sergeant Detective. Anthony Jnetic, from the Sheriff’s office of Butte-Silver Bow, interviewed as part of internal research, described the case of Montana as challenging due to the lack of substantial evidence and as a situation of “said, he said.” He admitted that McLeod’s failure to pass the polygraph “bothered him” and expressed his belief that “children usually do not invent things like this.”

“Everything said he did,” said Jurenic, but felt he lacked sufficient evidence for formal charges. He also expressed his frustration that a police officer could have committed such a crime and escaped responsibility, speculating that he would create a challenging work environment for other officers.

The detective of Ada Shannon Garza County, who had previous interactions with the victim as an school resource officer, confirmed to Clark Hill that abuse revelations originated in multiple counselors. She noticed McLeod’s attempt to discredit the victim by falsely stating that the directors did not report the revelations.

Garza was “strange” that McLeod affirmed that he had never been alone with the victim and that he repeatedly vocalized his disgust for her. He also found his suggestion to see the tiktok account of the suspicious victim. Garza declared that she “believed” the victim and was “convinced that” she had been sexually assaulted.

Rob Port / Forum News Service

She said she had a conversation with Klug about the case, initiated by Klug, which focused only on the timeline of her investigation, without a review of the case or substantive questions that are asked.

The Minot Police captain, Dale Pssa, McLeod’s brother -in -law and currently serves as an interim chief of the Minot Police Department, was also interviewed for the Clark Hill report. He confirmed that McLeod “did not like” the alleged victim and believed that it could be “extremely bad.”

He also declared that he knew that the victim was false and suggested that he could have accused McLeod because he did not like or to protect a closest family member, although Plessas also admitted that he reviewed his own children after hearing the accusations against McLeod.

Klug told Clark Hill researchers that he was first informed of McLeod investigations for the BCI and then by MCLEOD himself. He said he placed McLeod on administrative license to protect the public and the image of the department, although he finally returned to active service. While initially “a little sick” when listening to the accusations, Klug said that McLeod seemed really distressed, not with an “Oh, they gave me the moment”, but with the feeling that “this is ridiculous, and this will destroy me.”

Klug said he had brief conversations with detectives in Montana and Idaho, but did not carry out a thorough case review. It was based on police reports to make their decision about McLeod’s fate, believing that the information was “well covered” on them. He admitted not to conduct separate interviews with MCLEOD or complete a report that documents an internal investigation.

The accusations of Idaho and Montana, who came to light again during the investigation of the management of the department by Klug, were not the only clouds around McLeod. Klug acknowledged that repeated complaints against McLeod, including previous claims and issues, had “negatively affected the department.”

According to Clark Hill’s report, BCI agents expressed surprise that McLeod was still part of the department.

McLeod denied the accusations of sexual assault in an interview with Clark Hill, claiming that he was never alone with the victim, but admitted to having a matter and acknowledged that ordering a co -worker who lies about them violated the department’s rules.

The investigation discovered an inappropriate relationship between MCLEOD and a subordinate, SGT. Carem Asham, in the Minot Police Department. Text messages revealed MCLEOD expressing romantic feelings, a desire for physical intimacy and share information that should not have as supervisor. McLeod also incorrectly provided a copy of an internal report to the subordinate and guided it on how to eliminate it

The subordinate recognized McLeod’s feelings for her, but declared that he did not correspond them. She admitted her friendship “may have crossed a line in a physical relationship of one to two years before, initiated by McLeod, which lasted a few months and occurred in the police department. He said he did not feel that Mcleod’s actions constituted sexual harassment at that time, he admitted:” I suppose it could be interpreted as that, “and added:” Yes. That route could probably have gone. ”

Contributed / Minot City

McLeod pursued the inappropriate relationship with his subordinate using his work cell phone. The report also found that MCLEOD had accessed “adult” websites on their work computer.

The report concluded that McLeod demonstrated the falsehood on multiple occasions, violated numerous policies of the Minot Police Department and the rules of the city of Minot with respect to the standards of conduct, the responsibilities of supervisors, the laws, the rules and the orders, the performance, the conduct, the inappropriate revelations, the unauthorized access/dissemination and disclosure and the discriminatory harassment.

The investigation found that MCLEOD’s participation in criminal investigations, combined with the public knowledge of previous accusations and issues, “have undermined their effectiveness as a supervisor and police officer.” The report highlighted a “pattern of inappropriate sexual behavior” and questioned McLeod’s “healthy moral character. He also concluded that the department operated under the premise that “personal lies are acceptable”, which is problematic given its role in criminal procedures.

The report included several recommendations for the city of Minot, including the adoption of a working relationship for the supervision of the Division of Professional Standards of the Police Department, Comprehensive Training on Ethics and Obligations of Brady, incorporating the philosophy on misconduct in the head of the police selection process, adopting a clear discourse procedure, reevaluating training against the coupling and adoption of an antisepotic policy.

The question of Brady’s violations is now a problem in the Nichole Rice trial.

The law requires that law application agencies maintain what is called Giglio or Brady lists. The names come from decisions of the US Supreme Court. –

Giglio v. USA

and

Brady v. Maryland

– What governs what prosecutors must reveal to defense. The lists must be formed by officers involved in dishonesty or misconduct, which can be used to dismiss their testimony as witnesses.

Rice’s lawyer, Richard Sand, has presented a motion to dismiss charges based on the failure of revealing research on McLeod, which touches Asham’s behavior.

Sand’s presentation argues that Asham is “part to eliminate files and emails.”

“This is of extreme importance,” said Sand’s presentation, since Asham “has played a fundamental role in this prosecution.”

Sand’s motion appeared before the Court on March 18. The trial is held in Grand Forks County.