ELK RIVER, Minn. — The Sherburne County sheriff is hopping mad at a claim of maltreatment of high-profile inmate Vance Boelter at his Elk River jail. Last week Boelter told a judge he had been subjected to day and night indignities since being jail since June 15 for political assassination attacks. “He is not in a hotel,” said Sherburne County Sheriff Joel Brott to news reporter Joe Nelson. “He’s in jail, where a person belongs when they commit the heinous crimes he is accused of committing.” Boelter has been charged with killing State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounding State Senator John Hoffman and his wife. In court Boelter said the lights in his cell never go off and that he has been unable to sleep for two weeks. Brott disputed the sleep deprivation claim. Security cameras, he said, show Boelter “resting peacefully with his eyes closed” for seven straight hours the two night before his court appearance. At the same time, the sheriff acknowledged the lights are on 24-7 so jailers can see that inmates are OK. About the incessant jailhouse racket of which Boelter complained, the sheriff said that jails have heavy metal doors that make noise when they are opened and shut. He called Boelter’s cell spotlessly clean and said that his mattress has a pillow and that he has access to a phone and a shower. Boelter has not missed any meals, the sheriff said.
Brott. Sherburne City sheriff since 2008. Re-elected 2022.
Verbatim
Brott: “It’s offensive and disgusting that the man accused of assassination stood before a federal judge and painted himself the victim. He’s being treated like every other inmate in the same circumstance. It’s too late now to complain about the conditions in which he has put himself.”
Brott profile
Sheriff Joel Brott holds a 1992 degree in law enforcement from Alexandria Technical College. After jobs as a police officer and chief in southwest Minnesota he joined the Sherburne County sheriff’s office in 1996.