A jury trial date has been scheduled in Olmsted County for Curt Rude, who is on unpaid leave as captain of the Austin Police Department after allegedly taking prescription drugs from the APD evidence room.

Olmsted County Court Administration confirmed a jury trial date has been scheduled for Nov. 2 with Judge Kevin Lund presiding. Although charges are filed in Mower County, court proceedings were moved to Olmsted County because of a judge conflict.

Rude is charged with felony theft, drug possession and gross misdemeanor interfering with property in official custody after allegedly taking two bottles of the prescription drug Oxycontin from the APD evidence room the night of Nov. 6, 2007, the same day as his election to the school board.

The drugs, which were in a barrel and to be disposed of later, belonged to his friend, the late Mark Johnson, a reporter at KAAL-TV who died of an overdose in 2007, about a year after his arrest for selling Oxycontin.

Last December, Lund denied a motion to dismiss the theft charge on the basis Rude had the right to remove the evidence from the evidence room.

A settlement was not reached in the case during a conference Jan. 26 in Olmsted County Court. That was the latest court proceeding in the case.

Rude still sits on the Austin School Board, where he served as clerk the first year. His term expires in 2011.

The APD captain position will remain vacant until Rude’s case is concluded.