Brown County

District Court

• Taylor John Reichel-Schneider, 25, St. Peter; and Elizabeth Jean Dalton, 28, Vernon Center, were charged Nov. 10, 2022 with gross misdemeanor aiding and abetting theft.

According to court documents, New Ulm Patrolman Cory Lyons was dispatched to Walmart, 1720 Westridge Road Sept. 3, 2022. A store asset protection (AP) employee said a man and woman where scanning items in the self checkout when the male walked out of the store with a cart full of merchandise.

The woman told a Walmart employee she needed to get a different card to pay for the merchandise and the Walmart employee suspended the transaction. The woman left the store and ran through the parking lot to a waiting vehicle that was driven away.

The AP employee later identified the man as Taylor Reichel-Schneider and the woman as Elizabeth Jean Dalton from an unrelated theft at the Fairmont Walmart.

Lyons compared drivers license photos of Reichel-Schneider and Dalton to surveillance and found they matched.

Lyon tried to call Reichel-Schneider and Dalton. They did not respond. Reichel-Schneider returned Lyons’ call and said he was at Walmart the previous day, but did not remember what time he was there, what he wore, what he bought and did not know that Dalton did not pay for the merchandise.

When informed of possible charges, he asked what merchandise he could return to the law enforcement center. The total value of the merchandise taken was $511.09.

• Derek M. Roethler, 35, 1513 N. Payne St., New Ulm, was charged with four counts of gross misdemeanor domestic assault-subsequent violation Nov. 10, 2022.

According to court documents, New Ulm Patrolman Tyler Forrest was dispatched to 1513 N. Payne for a domestic report Nov. 8, 2022 and contacted Roethler outside building B. Roethler told Officer Forrest he gave his nephew weed that night and admitted to smoking weed and drinking. Officer Forrest smelled a strong alcoholic beverage odor while talking to Roethler.

The nephew said he and his grandfather were punched by Roethler that night and that he did not smoke or drink that night. He told police Roethler and his uncle’s friend had a lot of marijuana out and were smoking and drinking, then arguing before Roethler yelled at his grandfather about how he was God.

The nephew said he jumped out of his second floor bedroom window to get away from Roethler who punched both of the victims several times.

Roethler was arrested. During a search, New Ulm Police Sgt. Aaron Lewandowski found a plastic bag containing marijuana in Roethler’s pants. Officer Forrest found a small glass “one hitter” containing burnt marijuana in Roethler’s pants. Roethler submitted to a preliminary breath test that read 0.244. He was transported to detox where he became increasingly resistant.

Officers had to use a pain compliance to gain Roethler’s cooperation, then took him to an isolation room due to his erratic behavior.

Roether was convicted of an harassment restraining order violation on June 22, 2022 in Olmstead County Court, which is a qualified, domestic violence-related offense.

• Morgan L. Arndt, 22, Welch, was charged with two gross misdemeanor 3rd-degree DWI charges Nov. 10, 2022.

According to court documents, New Ulm Police Sgt. Charles Rasche was on patrol heading south on Minnesota Street in New Ulm at 1:07 a.m. Sept. 3, 2022. He saw a smaller silver SUV heading south a block or two ahead of him that appeared to travel over the center of the road and the rear license plate was not illuminated.

Rasche saw the suspect vehicles speed up before stopping quickly at a stop sign and turn west onto 7th South Street, then speed up quickly, so he sped up to follow. Rasche stopped the suspect vehicle and identified the driver as Arndt. He noticed intoxication clues coming from Arndt, ran her information and learned she had a Kansas DWI conviction in 2017.

Arndt admitted to having two shots, Windsor and Bloody Mary drinks.

A preliminary breath test read .161 alcohol concentration. Arndt was arrested and transported to the Brown County Jail. He provided a Datamaster test that read .14 alcohol concentration at 2:18 a.m.