Former Chaska Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jacqi Hellendrung pleaded guilty to felony theft last week.

According to a press release from the Carver County Attorney Jim Keeler’s office, Hellendrung issued her plea in court on March 26.

Hellendrung was originally charged with six counts of felony theft and two counts of misdemeanor theft in October 2008 for allegedly stealing chamber funds during her six-year turn as director. Seven of the charges were eventually dismissed.

Jim Keeler will officially announce his bid to be elected as Carver County Attorney on Wednesday, March 17, according to a campaign press release.

Keeler will gather with family, friends and supporters for breakfast from 7-9 a.m. at the Chanhassen American Legion, 290 Lake Drive East.

Keeler currently holds the position of Carver County Attorney. He was appointed to be County Attorney in 2007 by a unanimous vote of the Carver County Board of Commissioners when the previous county attorney, Mike Fahey, was appointed to the bench.

Christopher Fuhrman is asking the courts to clear his record of homicide charges, almost four years after the brutal murder of Nancy Everson.

The 52-year-old wife and mother of two, was shot dead in her Chaska home on Jan. 15, 2006.

Four individuals were later charged in her death, including her son Grant and his friends Joel Beckrich, Michael Gulden and Fuhrman.

A new septic system has been installed on Lowell and Janet Carlson’s property in Camden Township, Carver County, according to a press release from Carver County Attorney Jim Keeler.

The installation and certification of the new septic system comes after a three-year legal battle with the Carlsons, which included repeated court orders and the Carlsons being found in contempt of court.

Bradley Allen Hill, 24, of Chaska, was sentenced on Nov. 10 to five years in prison for charges related to methamphetamine possession. “If you deal meth in Carver County, we will seek maximum penalties,” stated Carver County Attorney Jim Keeler, in a press release. “Hill is a significant risk to the public safety. He needed to be taken off the streets – and he was,” said Keeler.

Hill was charged in two incidents which involved the sale or possession of methamphetamine, according to a Carver County Attorney press release.

By Unsie Zuege

In the coming year, District 112 officials say they’ll be keeping their eyes on how to best ensure students who get into trouble will be treated equitably and fairly at each of its two high schools.

When there was only Chaska High School, protocol was fairly clear cut in the handling of juvenile misdemeanors.

By Richard Crawford

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is calling for an independent inspection of the Waconia Event Center septic system to clarify whether it meets code.

Janet Carlson appeared before Carver County District Court Judge Richard Perkins this morning and agreed to have Carver County assist her and her husband, Lowell Carlson, in replacing the failing septic system on their Camden Township property, according to a Carver County Attorney Press release.

The county and the Carlsons agreed that the county will work to make sure the system gets installed properly, using the already approved design and the contractor that the Carlsons hired, the release stated.

By Forrest Adams

Carver County prosecutors filed a “John Doe” warrant complaint Tuesday against an “unknown male” suspect in a November 2006 Chanhassen home invasion.

The suspect is identified in the complaint by his DNA profile, which was recovered from a water bottle he used during the ordeal, and as “a white male between 25 and 35 years old, approximately 5-feet-10-inches tall and 185 pounds.”

Chaska will pay less for its prosecution contract in 2010.

Carver County Attorney James Keeler appeared before the Chaska City Council Monday night to detail costs for his office’s services over the next year.

Chaska is one of 10 cities in Carver County that contracts with the Carver County Attorney’s Office to prosecute petty misdemeanors, misdemeanors, gross misdemeanors and DWI cases.