Will Sommer's report in the Daily Beast, MAGA’s New Shock Jock Is a Bounty Hunter With a Troubled Past piqued our interest, as we had seen the Facebook poster for an event next Saturday in Albert Lea.
Stew Peters, subject of the Daily Beast article, are one of two keynote speakers for Celebrate Liberty, a free "Great Night Inspiration, Networking, Camaraderie Education and FUN!" at the Albert Lea Ramada Inn.
Sommer reports in MAGA’s New Shock Jock Is a Bounty Hunter With a Troubled Past:
Peters has risen on the far right over the past few months as a sort of slightly less unhinged version of Alex Jones, pumping out coronavirus disinformation and other conspiracy theories while allying himself with Trumpworld figures like lawyer Lin Wood. Amid his calls for Anthony Fauci’s execution, Peters amassed a sizable audience of nearly 300,000 followers on social media app Telegram, and played host on his show to figures as prominent as Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward.
The Jones fracas represented a new high point for Peters’ influence. But unlike his competitors, Peters hasn’t always been climbing the right-wing media ladder. As recently as a few months ago, Peters was tackling and tasing suspects as a bounty hunter.
Peters’ rise reflects the tumultuous environment of digital right-wing media, where a previously little-known bounty hunter can emerge out of practically nowhere to become a power player. Along the way, Peters has had plenty of his own run-ins with the law.
Around 1 a.m. on Feb. 19, Peters’ wife called the police in Red Wing, Minnesota, claiming Peters was in a drunken rage after getting home from his bowling league. In an angry scramble to find his phone, according to an account from Peters’ wife recorded in a police report, he had allegedly started to berate her and thrown household items, including boots and pillows, at her.
After stints as a radio DJ and a rapper using the name “Fokiss,” Peters got his first taste of internet infamy working as a bounty hunter, contracting with bail bond companies in Florida and then Minnesota to catch defendants who skipped bail.
But Peters’s bounty-hunting work hasn’t been without controversy. His police-like uniform inspired a change to Minnesota law in 2015, restricting how much bounty hunters could dress like law enforcement.
The provision’s supporters said it was explicitly aimed at Peters, saying his clothes and car, reminiscent of a police cruiser, misled defendants about whether they were being arrested by police or a bounty hunter. Goodhue County Sheriff Scott McNurlin complained to the Associated Press that the publicity-hungry Peters seemed out to compete with celebrity bail bondsman Dog the Bounty Hunter.
“Anybody would think this guy is a cop,” McNurlin told the paper.
Peters launched a YouTube channel recording his bounty-hunting victories, with the most-viewed video showing him tasing a suspect. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune dubbed him “Minnesota’s best-known bounty hunter.” . . .
. . . The [new 2021] show quickly became a hub for conspiracy theories, with guests claiming that the Florida condo building collapse was caused by the “deep state,” and promoting false claims about vaccine deaths. Peters claimed in June that humanity would face an “extinction-level event” if Trump didn’t retake office within 60 days, a prediction that failed to come true.
Bring Me The News has more on that 2015 law in New law says bounty hunters can't dress like police officers:
Bounty hunters will soon have uniform restrictions.
A new state law quietly passed this legislative session bans bail enforcement agents (which includes bounty hunters and bail bondsmen) from wearing or driving anything that may make them look like a police officer.
This law, which goes into effect July 1, is largely based on the actions of one man: Stew Peters, a successful bounty hunter in Minnesota, the Rochester Post Bulletin reports.
Peters, owner of Stew's Bail Bonds and U.S. Fugitive Recovery & Extradition, says he and his team play an important roll in capturing bail-jumpers and bringing them to justice. He made headlines last fall for capturing Minnesota fugitive Gregory Ahlers in California,
But law enforcement agencies have expressed their concern because Peters was being mistaken for an actual police officer. (In Minnesota, bounty hunters are not required to be licensed police officers in order to capture fugitives and receive the bounty money.)
Photos on the U.S. Fugitive Recovery & Extradition Facebook page show Peters and his team driving cars with decals making it look like a squad car, wearing bulletproof vests with "arrest team" and "K-9" on them, and carrying a gun or wearing a gun belt.
That's what prompted Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, to push for legislation, the Post Bulletin notes.
The new law prohibits bail enforcement agents from wearing the same colors as law enforcement officials – blue, brown, green or maroon. It also says they can't drive vehicles that are the same color as squad cars, and it can't have "a police shield, star or any similar emblem that is typically associated with a marked law enforcement vehicle."
The Rochester Post Bulletin reported in Lawmakers Crack Down on Bounty Hunters:
. . . Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, pushed for the legislation after local law enforcement agencies raised concerns that a Red Wing bail bondsman was being mistaken for a licensed peace officer. Under current law, a bail bondsman can dress like a police officer and drive a vehicle that looks identical to a squad car. In order to violate the law, the individual would have to identify himself to someone as a police officer. Schmit said his bill was aimed at closing that loophole, noting restrictions already apply to security guards.
"When you've got a fake badge and insignia that looks like the real McCoy, a normal person is going to assume you are a law enforcement officer," Schmit said.
Goodhue County Sheriff Scott McNurlin is among those who approached Schmit and asked for the law change. He made the request after his office and other law enforcement agencies started getting calls about Stew Peters, owner of Stew's Bail Bonds and U.S. Fugitive Recovery & Extradition.
"He was driving a car marked very much like a law enforcement vehicle, and we were getting a lot of feedback from the public about the confusion as to who this individual is, who does he represent," McNurlin said.
He said people called to report Peters had gone door to door asking questions while wearing a bulletproof vest, a gun and a gun belt. In one instance, he said a convenience store in Byron allowed Peters to view surveillance footage. And McNurlin said some law enforcement officers have been confused by Peters. In Wabasha County, officers spent two hours working with Peters thinking he was a federal agent, only to realize later he is a bail bondsman.
"He is one person out there doing it now. There could be several more to come if the bounty hunter craze would catch on or people were to realize that this is kind of a loophole in the law that would allow somebody to operate in this capacity," McNurlin said. "In my opinion, it is just not good for the public. They just don't know who the person is or what they represent."
On his LinkedIn page, Peters describes himself as a "senior investigator" for U.S. Fugitive Recovery and Extradition. It also features a photo of him wearing a bulletproof vest with the word "K-9" on it. . . .
Peters made headlines in 2002 when he claimed to be the brother of a Hollywood actor, befriended then-Gov. Jesse Ventura's son, Tyrel, and lived in the governor's mansion in the summer of 2000 before the state police concluded he was an impostor and kicked him out.
State police later acknowledged the incident, and Peters, then 22, admitted he was the man.
"It was a wonderful experience," Peters told the Star Tribune at the time, describing himself as a rap artist. "If you sneak your way in there, I would recommend it. They had great food. It happened. I would do it again."
Tyrel Ventura, also 22 at the time, was quoted as saying he was young, naive and duped by Peters, "He conned me, what can I say?" Ventura said.
Nothing celebrates liberty like citizen's arrests and collecting bounties on outstanding warrants--and getting meals and laundry at the Minnesota governor's residence.
The other keynote speaker is Bradlee Dean, the toxic metal Christian rocker and radio host who sued Rachel Maddow for defamation after she reported his words verbatim in 2011. Apparently, the action was not successful. It was a busy year for him; Jay Weiner reported in Legislative firestorm erupts over Bradlee Dean’s prayer for MinnPost:
Conservative minister Bradlee Dean, who has talked of jailing gay people and even worse, was allowed to give the opening prayer at today’s House session.
This, on a day when a gay marriage amendment was expected to be debated at the Legislature and as those in favor of gay marriage assembled at the Capitol.
House Speaker Kurt Zellers this afternoon wouldn’t disclose if the House will vote on the amendment this session. “We’re not saying yet,” he said. “We’re not sure yet.”
Zellers said the GOP will talk about their options in caucus today.Dean’s prayer caused outrage. Normally, the opening prayers in the legislative chambers are nonsectarian.
Dean concluded his rambling prayer asserting that President Barack Obama is not a Christian, with these words: “I know this is a non-denominational prayer in this Chamber and it’s not about the Baptists and it’s not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans. Or the Presbyterians, the evangelicals or any other denomination but rather the head of the denomination and his name is Jesus. As every President up until 2008 has acknowledged. And we pray it. In Jesus’ name.”Zellers apologized in a statement about an hour later:
“I respectfully apologize to all members in the Minnesota House of Representatives and all citizens of this state for today’s morning prayer. As Speaker of the House, I take responsibility for this mistake. I am offended at the presence of Bradlee Dean on the floor of the Minnesota House of Representatives. I denounce him, his actions and his words. He does not represent my values or the values of this state.”
The prayer is not officially part of the record of the House, The Uptake reported in Controversial “Prayer” Not On The Record the next day:
A legislative event reported by nearly every newspaper, radio and TV station in the state will not be reported in the official record of the Minnesota House. Rev. Bradlee Dean’s “prayer” on Friday that inferred President Obama was not a Christian is not included in the Minnesota House Journal as approved by the House this morning. House Speaker Kurt Zellers says he decided not to include the event because a quorum of House members were not present when the prayer happened.
Dean has dropped from the headlines since those thrilling days of yesteryear. We can't fault readers who have forgotten his salad days.
As for elected politicians go, so far only that guy, Shakopee Caucus of One state representative Erik Mortensen, is on the bill of fare. Mortensen appeared on Dean's show in March and May. As Senator Dave Osmek, R-Mound famously said in a Minnesota Reformer brief: ‘Eric Mortensen is the village idiot.
On its webpage's About Us page, Stand For Liberty MN bills itself as a non-partisan group of We The People of Southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa. It appears to have started in defense of a small business, The Interchange. As the Albert Lea Tribune reported in The Interchange owner arrested in Clear Lake, posts bail:
Clear Lake police on Thursday afternoon arrested the owner of Albert Lea’s The Interchange Wine & Coffee Bistro, Albert Lea Public Safety Director J.D. Carlson said.
Carlson said the warrants for Lisa Hanson were expanded to surrounding states this week, and the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office approved extradition back to Minnesota.
The warrants were in place since March 10 after Hanson reportedly did not attend a hearing tied to allegations that she violated state executive orders when she opened her restaurant in December and January for in-person dining. The orders were enacted by Gov. Tim Walz to limit the spread of COVID-19.
The Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office in a news release Thursday afternoon said the Sheriff’s Office and Albert Lea Police Department had been conducting surveillance of an Airbnb in Clear Lake. After Hanson was seen leaving the Airbnb by surveillance, she was then arrested by the Clear Lake Police Department and transported to the Cerro Gordo County Jail. . . . .
We gather there are people wants on warrants for guys like Stew Peters to detain and then those other kinds of warrants.
Image: The poster for a big celebration in Albert Lea.
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