DEXTER – Marcus Pederson, 66 of Pequot Lakes, was found dead in his truck while it was parked at the Windmill Restaurant and Truck Stop.

Tuesday, November 28, 2000

DEXTER – Marcus Pederson, 66 of Pequot Lakes, was found dead in his truck while it was parked at the Windmill Restaurant and Truck Stop.

According to Mower County Sheriff Barry J. Simonson, another trucker, who arrived at the truck stop Sunday, parked his rig and noticed a man slumped over the steering wheel of another semi tractor-trailer rig parked nearby.

When the trucker went in the restaurant and later came out, the driver was still there, slumped over the wheel.

Authorities were called and the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

The semi’s engine was idling and the rig had apparently been parked at the truck stop at the intersection of Highway 16 and Interstate 90 for three days or longer, according to the sheriff.

The trucker was tracked by his trucking company through a global positioning system.

According to Sheriff Simonson, the death appears to be of natural causes.

Man is stabbed

Robert Cervantes, 32 of Austin, claimed he was assaulted Sunday night while walking near Austin High School.

According to an Austin Police report, Cervantes was walking along Third Avenue NW near 7:45 p.m. Sunday, when two males approached him.

In the scuffle that ensued, he was twice stabbed. He described his assailant as a Hispanic male, 5’9", 160 pounds, wearing a Green Bay Packers parka. The assailant and his companion ran off after the attack.

The victim ran to Austin Medical Center hospital emergency room where he was treated for his wounds and released.

One suspect at large

Austin police arrested one suspect and are searching for another in connection with a burglary and criminal sexual conduct incident.

Officers were called to a northwest Austin apartment over the weekend. The calls came from a female who said a female friend was being threatened by two males in her apartment.

When Austin Police Department officers first went to the alleged victim’s apartment, she told them nothing was wrong and to leave.

Police received a second telephone call from the alleged victim’s friend, who told them she had been sexually assaulted.

When police interviewed the woman, she identified the suspects as Franklin Tubbs, 23 of 1914 Sixth Ave. NE, and Nathaniel Davenport, 32 of 611 Seventh St. NW.

Tubbs was arrested later by Austin police on the burglary and criminal sexual conduct charges.

Davenport remains at large.

Lost ring to be claimed

A ring containing two rows of diamonds was turned into the Austin Police Department yesterday.

It can be claimed if identified correctly at the APD.

Complaint filed in credit card fraud

David Forland filed an identity theft complaint with the Austin Police Department on Monday, stemming from a call he received from Nordstroms in California.

Forland was not responsible for the Nordstroms charge and therefore was immediately directed to the LAPD Fraud Division.

Through Forland’s communications with the LAPD he discovered that $15,000 to $20,000 has been charged on numerous credit cards, none of which he has charged himself.

No information has been given on the suspect(s) at this time.