Four arrested after allegedly chasing couple

BEMIDJI — Four men were arrested Monday night after they allegedly chased a woman and her boyfriend from an undisclosed location in Beltrami County to Palace Casino in Cass Lake, according to police.

Emerejirdo Duane Carmona, of Longville; Alfred James Masten, of Cass Lake; James Lee Roper, of Staples; and Seth Alan Raisch, of Bemidji, were arrested by Leech Lake Tribal Police following the incident.

Carmona, 27, was booked into the Cass County Jail on a driving after cancellation charge and remained in custody Wednesday on $3,000 bail.

Masten, 20, Roper, 20, and Raisch, 28, were expected to have bail set Wednesday, according to an official at the jail. All three were booked on felony weapons charges for possessing a sawed-off shotgun.

A 22 year old woman called police just after 9 p.m. and said three “guys trying to beat up her boyfriend,” according to a police report from the Cass County Sheriff’s Office. Cass County deputies, along with tribal police, responded to Palace Casino. There, they found the weapon in the parking lot, and a man who “fled across the road,” according to the report.

Leech Lake Tribal Police Chief Ken Washington said no injuries were reported.

Raisch has a criminal history that includes a 2004 conviction in Cass County for third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He served 18 months starting in 2006 at the Lino Lakes Juvenile Correction Facility for that charge.

In Beltrami County, Raisch was convicted in July of last year for violating the predatory offender registry. He was sentenced to one year and one day at the St. Cloud Correctional Facility, with credit for 89 days served. He was released from prison on April 18, according to an official there.

Carmona’s criminal history is comprised of mostly traffic-related misdemeanors, and includes a 2004 conviction for trespassing.

Masten was fined for petty misdemeanor drug possession in Crow Wing County in 2010, and has since accumulated several minor consumption cases in Beltrami County.

Roper doesn’t appear to have a criminal history, according to the Minnesota state courts website.