Stenehjem's emails recovered



guywhofishes

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Posts
29,292
Likes
5,870
Points
1,108
Location
Faaargo, ND
Will we finally find out the truth on the building overruns and just how good of friends him and Holmberg were?.... we shall see.


https://www.inforum.com/news/north-...ney-general-found-2-years-after-being-deleted
Wait... I just saw an article where it was decided that "no charges will be filed" against the gal who worked for him and just decided on a whim to delete them THE DAY AFTER HE DIED.

Also - I laughed when I heard they were "irretrievably gone". You know that NSA, or some alphabet agency has every email sent by everyone - stored away in one of those monstrous data stores out in the desert.
 


guywhofishes

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Posts
29,292
Likes
5,870
Points
1,108
Location
Faaargo, ND
April Baumgarten
By April Baumgarten
March 01, 2024 at 12:46 PM
Comments
Share
News reporting

This article is free to access.​

We've opened this article to everyone as a public service. Please consider supporting our work. View subscription offers

BISMARCK ā€” Charges will not be filed in connection to the deletion of former Attorney General Wayne Stenehjemā€™s emails.

In a memorandum obtained Friday, March 1, by The Forum, Mountrail County Stateā€™s Attorney Wade Enget said there is not enough evidence to warrant charges against anyone involved in deleting Stenehjemā€™s emails shortly after the attorney general died two years ago.

Stenehjem was the attorney general from 2000 through Jan. 28, 2022, when he died in Bismarck. His family said he died from cardiac arrest.

An autopsy was not performed on his body.

Days after his death, Stenehjemā€™s spokeswoman Liz Brocker asked an information technology employee to delete her bossā€™ email account. Former Deputy Attorney General Troy Seibel signed off on the request.
Attorney General Drew Wrigley was appointed to succeed Stenehjem in February 2022. Seibel resigned a month later, and Brocker left the office in July 2022 following reports of the email deletion.

At the time the emails were deleted, North Dakota law was unclear on whether emails were considered a government record, Enget said in the memo. Communication must be defined as a ā€œgovernment recordā€ to be considered part of a crime that alleges a person tampered with public records.


Electronic mail, or email, was not listed as a record in North Dakota law in 2022, Enget noted. The North Dakota Legislature amended the law last year to include emails as a public record.

Wrigley also suggested no laws were broken since the Attorney Generalā€™s Office had no pending records request for any of Stenehjem's emails before they were deleted.

Consultants determined the emails are not recoverable.

Enget said he based his decision on information from the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. Wrigley asked the Montana office to review a $1.7 million budget overrun that occurred during Stenehjemā€™s tenure. The costs were associated with a lease procurement for office space.

The report also noted an investigation into the deleted emails.

Enget said his review of the lease case is still open. North Dakota Rep. Jason Dockter, R-Bismarck, has been charged with misdemeanor speculating or wagering on an official action for personal benefit.

An audit found he and his business partners secured a lease to provide office space to Stenehemā€™s office.

Brocker's attorney, Tom Dickson, said he was not surprised by the decision. He determined early on that deleting the emails was not a crime, adding that the law passed in 2023 is not retroactive.

"The law at the time was pretty clear, and it wasn't (a) crime," Dickson said.
 
Last edited:

Pheasant 54

ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜… Legendary Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2018
Posts
462
Likes
180
Points
145
This whole this has been about as corrupt as DC. I am about 99% sure that the lady that had the emails deleted is now employed by the Burleigh County States Attorney .. WTF
 

Pheasant 54

ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜… Legendary Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2018
Posts
462
Likes
180
Points
145
From what I have read , the info came from his cell phone ,not the state computers. A download was done for pics and the software saved everything including the emails off the phone
 


NDSportsman

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Posts
3,378
Likes
628
Points
353
Location
East Central ND
This is really messed up IMO. They had these emails for 6 months but they don't inform the public until after they decide not to charge anyone? Seems too convenient to me. Can't wait to see what's in those emails, if we ever get to see them I guess. The more I hear about this the more I think Stenehjem offed himself.
 

guywhofishes

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Posts
29,292
Likes
5,870
Points
1,108
Location
Faaargo, ND
This is really messed up IMO. They had these emails for 6 months but they don't inform the public until after they decide not to charge anyone? Seems too convenient to me. Can't wait to see what's in those emails, if we ever get to see them I guess. The more I hear about this the more I think Stenehjem offed himself.
It takes six months to go through that many and delete the ones that make things complicated šŸ˜†
 


Up Y'oars

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
May 16, 2015
Posts
2,268
Likes
62
Points
298
Location
Garrison
From people I know close to him... his wife found him unconscious and called 9-1-1. I thought there was something within the circle of heads at the top pointing to something about a heart attack.
 

NDSportsman

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Posts
3,378
Likes
628
Points
353
Location
East Central ND
From people I know close to him... his wife found him unconscious and called 9-1-1. I thought there was something within the circle of heads at the top pointing to something about a heart attack.
With no autopsy noone will ever know for sure though, could have been an overdose too or any number of things.
 

Allen

Founding Member
Founding Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2015
Posts
10,913
Likes
2,099
Points
758
Location
Lincoln, kinda...
Just curious here, but what does one think could be found in the emails of the deceased?

It would seem to me that no law appears to be broken by the deletion of the email account, but it sure has brought a perception of impropriety. We've had a number of AGs in ND since the invention of email. Can I petition someone, somewhere, to get Heidi's emails? Or, were they also deleted and nobody cared?
 

Slappy

ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜…ā˜… Legendary Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2021
Posts
801
Likes
640
Points
253
Location
Bismarck
If you have any doubt about the glaring corruption and cover up, read this report before commenting.

Screenshot_20240305-142534_Drive.jpg


https://www.nd.gov/auditor/sites/ww...ort of the Office of the Attorney General.pdf
 


Recent Posts

Friends of NDA

Top Posters of the Month

  • This month: 540
  • This month: 245
  • This month: 189
  • This month: 170
  • This month: 142
  • This month: 107
  • This month: 101
  • This month: 94
  • This month: 91
  • This month: 81
Top Bottom