FAIRMONT– Martin County Chief Deputy Corey Klanderud shared some information regarding warrants and transports with the Martin County Commissioners on Tuesday. Klanderud said he felt it was important for them to know as there is misinformation about the process circulating on social media.

Klanderud estimated there are between 55 and 65 felony warrants from Martin County in the system on a daily basis.

“If somebody is arrested anywhere in the United States, or really anywhere, a teletype is sent to our dispatch center and they advise us. We go and take that information, send it to the county attorney’s office and make sure it’s a warrant we want to bring back,” Klanderud said.

He also said they’ll contact private transport companies that could provide the service.

“Then we take that information and see if we could do it cheaper,” Klanderud explained.

He provided a breakdown of 2022 which showed that there have been three out-of-state pick-ups so far this year.

“After making sure it was approved through the county attorney’s office and getting quotes from private companies, on those three we saved $3,468,” Klanderud said.

This year they’ve gone to Santa Cruz, CA; Evergreen, AL; Longview, WA. Klanderud said they actually picked up another warrant this year in Wichita, KA but for that one they drove.

If they’re in a radius of Martin County of about 10 hours give or take, they’ll drive. He said if they’re close enough that they can safely drive and bring them back, that’s the first option.

“There are very specific rules to flying and transporting prisoners. We meet all those requirements and there are only a few of us that are certified to fly in the airlines so that’s the process we go through,” Klanderud said.

He stressed that picking up a warrant is something that needs to be done to complete the criminal justice system.

Klanderud said recently there was someone in custody in Alabama and they’re working on resolving it without having to bring them back. He said that every time someone is arrested on a warrant out-of-state doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll need to be immediately transferred back.

“Sometimes through the county attorney’s office or through probation they can work out another solution and then we don’t have to incur that expense, but state statute requires us to do this,” Klanderud said.

He further explained that when a warrant is issued for someone’s arrest and they’re out of state, that’s something that they need to address.

Interim County Attorney, Taylor McGowan’s office makes the decision on whether to bring them back. He said often extraditions require a lot of work not only for the sheriff’s office, but also his office.

He said one of the people they’ve brought back was sentenced to prison for 45 months and another, a sex offender, was recently sentenced to 100 months in prison.

“These aren’t criminals that we’re willing to abscond and go free. There are people that need to be brought to justice and that requires going to get them,” McGowan said.

His office has been subject to several data requests pertaining to expenditures relating to these extraditions. McGowan said he’s aware there’s quite a bit of misinformation about the process circulating on social media.

“This individual mis-represents a lot of these expenditures and has raised complaints… that are just quite frankly ridiculous. This is a process done with the county attorney’s office and it’s a necessary process to bring people to justice and that’s what’s been done. We’ve brought people back who are now serving prison sentences,” McGowan said.

He said the notion that they should forgo the expenses and let these people remain at large outside of Minnesota is absurd.

The commissioners thanked Klanderud and McGowan for their explanation of the process.

“It’s very important that the right information gets out there,” said Commissioner Kathy Smith.