Apple Valley 2011 Year in Review: Top Crime Stories

These were some of the biggest crime stories that came out of or were related to Apple Valley in 2011:

The iMassage business that opened in October 2010 in the Time Square shopping center was a front for a prostitution operation, Apple Valley police found in February; a disorderly house charge was filed against the owner, and prostitution and disorderly house charges were filed against a woman who was involved.

The woman, Yin Hsin Chu, was convicted in August on the prostitution charge, a misdemeanor. Owner Andy Ming-Lueng Kor a few days after the charges were filed, in an apparent suicide.

Mixed Martial Arts fighter and Apple Valley resident Brett Rogers was charged in June with third-degree assault, domestic assault by strangulation, having a pattern of stalking conduct—all felonies—and one gross misdemeanor count of endangerment of a child, after police say he beat and strangled his wife in their Apple Valley home.

Rogers in September, and for allegedly violating an order for protection. He after noncompliance with his pre-sentence release.

His sentence for the assault .

Aaron Michael Ferrarese was charged at the end of August with first- and second-degree arson after he allegedly tried to burn down the house of an Apple Valley resident against whom he held a grudge. The six people in the house at the time it burned .

Derrick Wallace Dahl was charged in July with manslaughter after he and friends allegedly were playing with unloaded guns, and Dahl allegedly pulled the trigger of a gun he thought was empty and fatally shot his friend in the head. Dahl , where his attorney said they would contest the evidence against Dahl.

Convictions and Sentencings

Rhonda Lee Arkley was convicted of the arson she committed in December 2010, where she set her house on fire with her husband inside, tried to stab herself and fled police.

Jonas Gerald Grice was found guilty of second-degree intentional murder for 22-year-old Apple Valley resident Anthony Hartman at a Rosemount carwash in July 2010.

Lawrence Martin Valencour was sentenced to 11 years in prison, after he was convicted of six counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct for sex crimes against six of his massage clients.

Abdirahman Abdiwahab Abdikarim received 18 years in prison, after he was convicted of second-degree murder for killing taxi driver Michael Allan Palm Jr. in his taxi in the parking lot of a Glazier Avenue commercial building.

Brittany Rose Mertz, formerly Krueger, was acquitted in October of six of seven charges—including criminal vehicular homicide—in connection with a 2008 Inver Grove Heights crash that killed three people and left two children injured. Mertz

Other Stories of Reader Interest

Brentyn Edwin Krueger was charged with felony theft for allegedly inhaling $1,800 worth of freon from neighbors' air conditioning units to get high. The story was picked up by regional and national media, and was included in a Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" segment. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Feb. 21.

Apple Valley firefighter Trudy Jean Hagert was charged with felony simple robbery, misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal damage to property and misdemeanor fifth-degree assault after policy say she allegedly spray painted "slut" on another firefighter's car, assaulted her and stole her cell phone, allegedly because she didn't approve of the other firefighter's boyfriend. Hagert is scheduled to appear in court on March 5.

Michael Richard Fessler was charged with misdemeanor mistreatment of an animal after he threw his wife's dog across a room, breaking its pelvis, after he said the dog repeatedly defecated indoors. Fessler was convicted of misdemeanor mistreatment of an animal in October.

Benjamin Daniel Anderson was charged with felony theft and felony theft of a motor vehicle, and Tyler Joseph Mudd was charged with two felony counts of aiding and abetting theft, after police said the two helped themselves to a parked golf cart during the city’s Freedom Days celebration, crashed it into a tree and then fled the scene.

Anderson pleaded guilty and was convicted earlier this month to one count of theft and one count of criminal vehicular operation—both listed as gross misdemeanors—and sentenced to probation. Mudd's Dec. 16 hearing was held, and the omnibus hearing scheduled for Jan. 24 was dismissed.