More about Bad Boys............

[Lee Borgersen]

Babbitt man sentenced for snowmobile chase through Boundary Waters

 Mar 26, 2015
 
 
A Babbitt man will spend a month in jail and three years on probation in connection with a high-speed snowmobile chase through the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 2014.

  ......
Edward Zupancich, 27, was sentenced Thursday after being found guilty in February of fleeing an officer on a motor vehicle as well as misdemeanor charges of possessing cans in the BWCAW, operating a snowmobile in an unsafe manner, possessing a mechanical transport or mechanized equipment in the BWCAW, failure to display registration and littering.

Zupancich was sentenced to 30 days in jail for each charge except littering, for which he was fined $50. He’ll serve each of the five 30-day sentences concurrently.

He also was given three years of probation for fleeing an officer on a motor vehicle, which is a felony. As part of the probation, Zupancich is banned from the BWCAW with the only exception being community service work there with prior approval of his probation officer. Another criteria of the probation is completing 240 hours of community service, which is prefered to be done in the Boundary Waters.

According to the criminal complaint, on Jan. 11, 2014, Zupancich was snowmobiling in the Boundary Waters with Barney Lakner, 44, of Ely when they were pursued by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources conservation officers; federal law bans snowmobiles in the BWCAW. The chase went across Basswood Lake along the Ontario border.

Lakner's trial is set for June 10; he faces a felony and six misdemeanor charges. The criminal complaint alleges that at two points during the pursuit, Lakner's snowmobile rammed the officers' snowmobiles. The complaint said that one officer eventually got close enough to try to grab Lakner's backpack in an effort to get him to stop. His snowmobile allegedly again made contact with the officer's snowmobile.

The criminal complaint also alleges that Lakner had put duct tape over his snowmobile registration so it could not be identified from a distance.

Lakner was convicted and served prison time for his role in a 2007 incident in which he was part of a group of six who illegally used a motorized boat and terrorized campers on Basswood Lake — where the 2014 snowmobile chase happened. He is out on bail.


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[glenn57]

idiots!!!!!!!!!!

[beeker]

i bet his parents are glowing with pride..

[Lee Borgersen]

              Update.........

     Ely man found guilty in BWCA joy ride incident.
 
             Barney J. Lakner awaits sentence on six counts. 
 
TWO HARBORS—A Lake County jury took less than an hour on Monday to convict Ely resident Barney James Lakner on six charges stemming from a January joy ride on a snowmobile that took Lakner and his friend, Edward Zupancich, deep into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Lakner and his attorney Chris Stocke had hoped to convince a jury that Lakner was not guilty of the most serious charge—that he had attempted to flee law enforcement officers when they tracked him down near the U.S.-Canadian border. But Lakner never took the stand, leaving it to his attorney to make his claim that he had continued to speed away when the officers approached because he was searching for safer ice before coming to a stop.

Conservation officers testified that Lakner had sped up to get away from them and that their pursuit of Lakner didn’t end until he was physically tackled from his speeding sled. The jury made it clear they didn’t buy Lakner’s explanation, and the resulting guilty verdict could send Lakner back to jail, possibly for as long as three years.

Lakner came to notoriety in 2007 when he led a group of young men from Ely on a summertime spree into the Boundary Waters during which the group terrorized wilderness campers. The group came to be known as “The Ely Six” in a case that drew national headlines. Lakner spent three years in prison for his actions on that day, but the jury in the latest case never heard about that conviction, nor about Lakner’s 2000 gross misdemeanor conviction for reckless operation of a snowmobile and obstruction of legal process. The judge in the case, Michael Cuzzo, had earlier determined that those prior convictions could only come before the jury if Lakner chose to testified. He waived that right on Monday.

Why Lakner chose to take the case to a jury isn’t clear. Such violations result in plea agreements in about 98 percent of cases, and defendants typically are allowed to plead to lesser offenses to save the state or county the expense of a trial. The two sides never came to an agreement in this instance, and it could lead to a stiffer sentence for Lakner than might otherwise have been available.

Lake County Assistant Attorney Lisa Hanson said she couldn’t comment on the case until after sentencing, now set for Aug. 3. Lakner’s defense attorney Chris Stocke did not return a phone call seeking comment.

In addition to the felony charge of fleeing an officer, Lakner was convicted on five other misdemeanor counts, including possessing beverage cans in the BWCA, possessing mechanical equipment in the wilderness, littering, reckless driving, and failure to display registration.

Lakner was conditionally released on $20,000 bail and ordered not to enter the Boundary Waters.

               

[Lee Borgersen]

 Ely man gets jail sentence in BWCAW chase

 8/3/15 at 10:00 p.m.
 
Barney James Lakner was spared a return to prison on Monday, but he was met with scathing remarks from a judge as he was sentenced for his second major offense in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in less than a decade.

 Judge Michael Cuzzo ordered Lakner to serve three years of probation, including 180 days in jail, for leading conservation officers on a high-speed snowmobile pursuit across Basswood Lake in January 2014.
The judge also barred Lakner from entering the Boundary Waters while on probation and imposed a $500 fine.

"Mr. Lakner, at some point you need to grow up," Cuzzo said. "You're too old to be doing childish acts."

Lakner, 45, was led from the Two Harbors courtroom by a deputy and taken into custody to begin serving his sentence.

According to trial testimony and court documents, Lakner and a friend, Edward Zupancich, attempted to elude three Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officers in the wilderness area on Jan. 11, 2014. Motorized vehicles are banned by state and federal law in the Boundary Waters.

When approached by the officers near the south end of Basswood Lake, Lakner completed a 180-degree turn, rammed an officer's sled and fled toward Canada through the dangerously thin ice and open waters of Goose Narrows, according to testimony.

Authorities said the chase ended only when one officer jumped from his moving sled to tackle Zupancich and another officer grabbed hold of Lakner's backpack, forcing him to a stop.

At the conclusion of a three-day trial in June, a Lake County jury took less than an hour to convict Lakner of all six charges against him, including a felony count of fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.

It was Lakner's second major violation in the Boundary Waters. He previously served a three-year prison sentence after leading a group that terrorized campers on the same lake in August 2007, firing semiautomatic firearms randomly into the night and shooting off professional-grade fireworks, as well as damaging a federal water level gauging station.

Cuzzo said he had intended to send Lakner back to prison, but had a change of heart after hearing arguments during the sentencing hearing Monday in State District Court in Two Harbors.

Lakner will be subject to a 13-month prison sentence if he violates any of the terms of his probation.

Assistant Lake County Attorney Lisa Hanson argued for the 180-day sentence, echoing recommendations made by a probation officer. However, the prosecutor was highly critical of Lakner's actions.

Hanson, referencing the 2007 incident, said Lakner was again the ringleader in his most recent crime, bringing the much-younger Zupancich along with him. She said evidence showed that Lakner had actually brought Zupancich to a location where he previously terrorized the campers, boasting about his crime.

"He clearly doesn't believe that laws apply to him," Hanson told the judge. "That's especially true in the Boundary Waters."

Defense attorney Chris Stocke sought to have Lakner placed on home monitoring, allowing him to remain employed and provide for his family.

Lakner drives a bread delivery truck for a living. Even though he was allowed to take part in a work-release program, the two-hour drive between Ely and the Lake County Jail would make the arrangement impossible, Stocke said.

"If he's in jail, he'll lose his job," the attorney said. "I don't see how ordering him to serve jail time will benefit Mr. Lakner, his family, the conservation officers or anyone in the community."

Lakner himself pleaded with the judge, stating that he had only taken the case to trial because all plea offers from the prosecution included jail time.

"My only hope to keep my job is home monitoring," he said.

Lakner maintained that he did not intend to flee the officers, but did issue an apology to the conservation officers.

Cuzzo took a brief recess to consider the case before returning to the courtroom with his ruling.

The judge told Lakner that his case was "very different than 98 percent of people I see come through this courtroom." He said he was disturbed by the fact that Lakner's offenses lacked the typical factors that are seen in most cases: alcohol, illegal drugs, mental illness.

"This was a cold, calculated decision on your part to violate the law," Cuzzo said. "I think that makes it, in some sense, worse than other cases."

Cuzzo said he would be "absolutely justified" in sending Lakner back to prison, but opted to give him another chance on probation.

The judge initially said he would impose 10 years of probation, but amended the order upon learning that the maximum term was three years.