WINONA, Minn. – A Winona man was arrested after a former girlfriend reported that he had entered her apartment and awakened her in her bedroom. The woman told police she was frightened but unhurt. Arrested was Jose Angel Jones-Lazo, 38, who lived in the next-door apartment unit. To police he said that he and the woman had broken up recently and that he had wanted merely to talk. Her door was unlocked, both told officers. While police were interviewing Jones-Lazo, they found 0.4 grams of meth, they said. This was about 6:55 a.m. in the 250 block Walnut Street on the East Side. The woman’s 14-year-old daughter was in the apartment, police said

Jones-Lazo. Booked for burglary, domestic assault, drugs possession.

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. — Since Friday the Prairie du Chien police have been holding a man they suspect is affiliated with violent transnational criminal organization known as Tren de Aragua. Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26, a Venezuelan, was arrested after a sexually violent attack on one woman, police said. A juvenile female was also injured. Police Chief Kyle Teynor said that Zarate also had warrants from Madison, 100 miles away, for strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, battery, and disorderly conduct. In Prairie du Chien, he was held for:

> Sexual assault.

> Disorderly conduct.

> Domestic battery.

> Strangulation/suffocation.

> Physical abuse to a child.

Prairie du Chien olice responded Friday to the 300 block of East Wells Street for report of a a physical disturbance.That led to the arrest. Meanwhile, said Teynor, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has placed a detention order on Zarate. Both victims, the chief said, knew Zarate.

Tren de Aragua profile

The gang originated in a prison in the Venezuelan state of Aragua Turmoil, government corruption and anarchy facilitated the gang’s growth. An example of early corruption: The Venezuelan government handed control of some prisons over to crime bosses. One prisons soon a had a zoo, swimming pool, playground, restaurant, and nightclub within the prison. Tren de Aragua, as the gang called itself, took over a nearby neighborhood and established strict social control. The gang subsumed rival criminal gangs, often through violence, and expanded its influence to other states in Venezuela through alliances with smaller gangs. Tren de Aragua portfolio grew to include extortion, kidnapping, human trafficking for sexual exploitation, migrant smuggling, illegal mining, retail drug trafficking, and cybercrime. Tren de became transnational around 2018 when it took over clandestine border crossings into Colombia to smuggle drugs, contraband, and migrants. Tren de Aragua similarly set up branches in Peru and Chile. Concern about expansion into North America prompted  the U.S. Treasury Department to list Tren de Aragua a transnational criminal organization in July 2024. In addition the U.S. State Department has offered $12 million in rewards for information leading to the arrests of three of the gang’s Venezuela leadership.

RED WING, Minn. – A Red Wing couple accused of torturing their children will be sentenced in December. The kids — three boys ages 7, 5 and 3, and a girl, age 9 —  were taken away from the couple in August 2022 when a social worker discovered the situation. Benjamin Taylor Cotton, 42, and Christina Ann Cotton, 39, were charged in June 2023, and two weeks ago pleaded guilty in a plea deal. The deal, negotiated with Goodhue County prosecutors, is still subject to a judge’s acceptance. Although the charges were reduced in the plea deal, the original charges were multiple counts of:

> Child torture.

> Neglect or endangerment of a child.

> Malicious punishment of a child.

A social worker said the boys were locked inside makeshift cages.  One cage was described as a playpen with something like a dog gate strapped on top.  Another cage for two of the he boys was  described as a small bunk bed with wooden planks and a wooden door nailed to it. The girl was found locked inside a basement bedroom. The children had been in the cages at least 13 hours, the social worker said. The 3-year-old boy was wearing a soiled diaper that had been duct-taped to his skin, the social worker said. Three children had “extensive” and “excessive” bruising consistent with being belted, according to the criminal complaint.

Pecans are my favorite. “Especially gilberts. I also like black walnuts like this gem. Yes, I nibble on the run but am also stockpiling for winter in my nest up Peterson Creek down from Lewiston near Farmers Park.” Image: Steve Lunde

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Fungi are essential to bring out Minnesota’s fall colors, says state naturalist Brian Schwingle. A wet spring and summer, like this year, favors fungal leaf diseases that stress trees and lead to brilliant forests in the fall before the leaves eventually brown and drop. Essential too. Schwingle said, is a September with a lot of sunny days and cool but not freezing nights, nothing below 28 degrees, and minimal rain and no wind.

Image: Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Golf (women): Georgianni Invitational: UW-LaCrosse 681 (st of 5), UW-LaCrosse B  690 (3rd)

 Soccer (women): Saint Mary’s 0, Grinnell 0 (tie)

Soccer (women): Winona State 2, Upper Iowa 2 (tie)

Soccer (women): UW-LaCrosse 7 Wesleyan of Illinois 0

Tennis (women) Winona State 7, UW-River Falls 0

WABASHA, Minn. — Police have gone into bank accounts controlled by a Wabasha priest who reportedly was shaking down parishioners for money. The warrant gave investigators access to the priest’s BMO Harris bank accounts. Police have declined to comment on the investigation, but details were in a court-ordered search warrant that had become a public document. The Winona-Rochester Diocese of the Catholic Church declined a request for comment. So did Wabasha Police Chief Joe Stark and Sheriff Rodney Bartsh. These allegations were in the warrant:

> A couple told police that Prince Amala Jesuraja Jebamlia Selvaraj, kown locally as Father Prince Raja, asked for $5,500 for surgery for his mother in India. Raja asked the couple not to tell anyone because he could lose his job for asking parishioners for money.

> A woman said Father Raja “got her too.” The amount she gave was not specified in the warrant.

> A man told police his mother had given the pastor $2,3oo ostensibly to pay taxes.

ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Winona-Rochester Catholic Diocese consecrated its new administrative center in northwest Rochester with ribbon-cutting ceremony and a religious service outside. The $8 million chancery culminates the transfer of the Diocese headquarters from Winona after 113 years. Bishop Robert Barron pointed to the stained glass peak atop the chancery and called it a “jewel of the crown.” Said the bishop: “The whole beauty of it is a sign to the community.” As an administrative center, the building is the workplace of 43 employees. Some relocated from Winona. Other Winona employees took early retirement.

Earlier A diminishing Catholic presence on Main Street

Earlier: Catholic headquarters to leave Winona

Earlier: Pope chooses new Winona-Rochester bishop

Chapel. The sanctuary inside the new pastoral center.

Exit at St. Charles. Rochester man realized his end was near when police had him corralled in his car. He shot himself dead. Image Steve Lunde

Winona cop picked up Jenkins’ trail back 30 miles  

ST. CHARLES, Minn. –  The man who shot himself to death Friday night in a traffic stop on Interstate 90 had been sought for several days for the murder of his sister in Eau Claire. Scott Adam Jenkins, 59, had been linked to the death early in the investigation.  His car showed up in a series of traffic-tracking cameras as being in Eau Claire about the time that his sister, Michelle Jenkins, was shot to death at her home. A widened search of traffic monitoring videos spotted the vehicle making trips back and forth between Eau Claire and Rochester, where the bother Scott Jenkins lived  — all via the Mississippi River bridge on the Wisconsin-Minnesota border at Winona. Why Scott Jenkins  was making the 200-mile round trips was not clear. Nor have Eau Claire police released information on what they know as a motive for the murder. What is known is that a Winona police officer observed Jenkins’ 2014 white Nissan Altima on Friday night on the Highway 43 route through Winona from the interstate bridge to Winona Street, onto Sarnia Street, then onto Mankato Avenue, and then eight miles up to I-90 at Wilson, and west 18 miles almost to St. Charles. The officer followed Jenkins, all the while communicating with the Winona police dispatcher. The dispatcher confirmed that Eau Claire police believed that Jenkins had a handgun and should be considered armed and dangerous. Just short of St. Charles, the Winona officer stopped the Jenkins vehicle. A back-up officer arrived. Jenkins, alone in his car, was given verbal commands on a loudspeaker to exit the vehicle. He didn’t. When officers approached the vehicle, they found Jenkins slumped dead in the driver’s seat with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A handgun was with the body.

Earlier: Fugitive in murder case kills self outside Winona

Earlier: Eau Claire woman found dead in homicide

ELMWOOD, Wis. — A multi-motorcycle crash claimed the life of one biker and seriously injured a second biker. David Rea, 54, of Rosemount, Minnesota, died at the scene, police said. This was about 4:30 p.m southwest of Elmwood. Rea was heading west toward Ellsworth. On the other bike, also heading west, was Shawn Stuttgen, 48, of Eagan, Minnesota. Stuttgen was airlifted 40 miles to an Eau Claire hospital.

WINONA, Minn. – Police said it was obvious that a driver was intoxicated when stopped for a bad brake light. Alexia Saith Shines-Stoltz, 20, was tested for her blood-alcohol content. The test showed 0.9% — almost 15% more than the law allows. She was booked for drunken driving. This was about 1:10 a.m. at Fifth and Huff streets near downtown.

At Winona’s Lake Park. Image: Steve Lunde

Soccer (mens): Saint Mary’s 4, Wisconsin Luther 0

Volleyball women): Milwaukee Engineering 3, Saint Mary’s 1

Volleyball women): UW-LaCrosse 3, Buena Vista 1

ST. CHARLES, Minn. – A Rochester man wanted for the shooting death of his sister was found shot dead, a suicide, in his car. Scott Jenkins was being followed by Winona police up Highway 43 heading toward Interstate 90 interchange  at Wilson. Twenty miles west on I-90 near St. Charles, Jenkins responded to police flashers and pulled over. The officer found him dead on the steering wheel of a fresh  gunshot wound. This was about 8 p.m. Jenkins was 59. His sister had been shot to death last week in Eau Claire.

Earlier: Eau Claire woman found dead in homicide