General Overview

GENERAL OVERVIEW-DETECTIVE BUREAU

The Detective Bureau is a support division to the Owatonna Police Department and is currently comprised of a captain, detective sergeant, (2) general investigators, (1) child protection investigator, (2) school resource officers and (1) evidence technician. The Detective Bureau is tasked with a variety of responsibilities; the primary function being to provide investigative support to the Patrol Division. Reported incidents are carefully screened by the detective sergeant to determine those cases that require additional follow-up which would typically over task the Patrol Division’s resources. Case assignments to detectives often include cases requiring multiple interviews, out-of-town followups, crime scene work, surveillance activities, obtaining search warrants or subpoenas, and assist outside law enforcement agencies on investigations that overlap into Owatonna. In addition, the Detective Bureau sergeant also serves as the commander of the South Central Drug Investigative Unit (SCDIU) - a locaL and grant funded Violent Crimes Enforcement Team (VCET) that serves Steele, Waseca, Freeborn and Faribault Counties and the cities contained within those counties.

2019 DETECTIVE BUREAU HIGHLIGHTS

The Owatonna Police Department was dispatched to the Kwik Trip Store at 2270 46th St. N.W. for a report of an overdose on July 10th. In the Kwik Trip parking lot, Owatonna police officers and detectives located a 24-year old male deceased in the front seat of a motor vehicle. The decedent was identified as Jesse Frohwein of Austin. Owatonna detectives and South Central Drug investigation Unit agents were able to determine and identify a suspect who had provided illegal controlled substances to Frohwein prior to this death. On Saturday, July 21, 2019, the Owatonna Police Department arrested Robert James Matras, age 47 of Inver Grove Heights, MN on suspicion of 3rd Degree Murder-causing the death of Frohwein. Matras was being held in the Mower County Detention Center on unrelated charges. Matras was transported to the Steele County Detention Center and has been formally charged with 3rd Degree Murder and 2nd Degree Manslaughter. (OW19-001474)

2019 DETECTIVE BUREAU HIGHLIGHTS

On August 29th, the Owatonna Police Department was called to the area of 24th Avenue NW and Hoffman Drive for the report of gunshots fired. Owatonna officers responded to the area and located a vehicle parked alongside the road on 24th Avenue occupied by a female and a male. The male individual reported he had been shot in the upper torso. The male victim was transported to the Owatonna Hospital by Mayo Ambulance Service and later air-lifted to Rochester. The 39 -year old male victim was being treated for non-life threatening injuries. The female was not injured. Subsequent to the shooting, Owatonna detectives were able to develop probable cause that the shooting victim was in possession of a handgun at the time of the shooting and it was recovered at the scene; the victim was ineligible to possess a firearm due to a prior criminal conviction/adjudication of a crime of violence. The following Sunday, a female victim reported a black male held a gun to her head and accused her of setting him up in the earlier shooting—the female identified the black male as the victim in the 24th Avenue shooting who detectives learned had walked away from a hospital in Rochester. In an operation in Waseca, the shooting victim was taken into custody and jailed. James Williams, age 39 of Owatonna, has been charged with Illegally Possessing a Firearm, 2nd Degree Assault with a Dangerous Weapon and Threats of Violence. (OW19-001968)

In the second week of November, an agent with the US Department of Homeland Security turned over a child exploitation investigation to our detectives. This is a case involving the social media site KIK and an adult attempting to engage in sexual contact with a child. In this case, the suspect reached out to the DHS agent who was posing undercover as a 15-year old female and solicited the undercover agent for sex in Owatonna. The suspect also exchanged a sexually explicit video of himself to the undercover agent. Around noon on Tuesday, Owatonna detectives staked out the meeting location; when the suspect arrived he was quickly taken into custody. In an interview, the suspect admitted that he planned to meet in Owatonna to have sex with a child. Zachariah Montgomery, age 34 of Rochester, has been charged with Attempted 3rd Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct, Engaging in Electronic Communications Relating/Describing Sexual Conduct with a Child and Distributing Electronic Communication Describing Sexual Conduct to a Child—these alleged crimes are all felonies. (OW19-002582)