Saturday,  Sept. 28, 2013 • Vol. 15--No. 75 • 28 of 50

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Man on loose from SD since 1997 caught in Ariz.

• RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) -- An Arizona man on the run for 15 years from South Dakota has been caught.
• The U.S. Attorney's Office says Arizona authorities caught 57-year-old Steven Durant earlier this month and he made his first court appearance this week in Rapid City.
• A federal grand jury originally indicted him in April 1997 for escape. He was in a community program in the Black Hills at the time.
• The maximum punishment if he's convicted of escape is five years in prison.

Feds charge 13 defendants in ND meth conspiracy

• DAVE KOLPACK, Associated Press
• FARGO, N.D. (AP) -- Federal prosecutors have charged 13 people with conspiring in the sale of methamphetamine that was used in the overdose deaths of a North Dakota woman and South Dakota man.
• Each of the 13 defendants has pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Bismarck to a charge of conspiracy to distribute drugs resulting in death, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Prosecutors allege that the defendants conspired in the sale of the drugs used in the Dec. 20 fatal overdose of 39-year-old Douglas Peterson, of Pollock, S.D., and Feb. 6 death of Cheri Bettis, 59, of Mandan.
• Some defendants face additional charges, and one, Brock Fish of Bismarck, is charged in all six counts of the indictment. He was arraigned Aug. 6, but prosecutors waited until Friday to unseal the indictment, after all 13 defendants appeared in court.
• The defendants are scheduled to stand trial in November.
• Fish's lawyer, Brenda Neubauer, and U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon both declined to comment.
• Also charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs resulting in death are Rodney Braun, Charles Chadwick, Dale Fish, Dee Gillette, Justin Hinkel, Billie Jo Kirkpatrick, Bretton Link, Andreas Samsa, Robert Schaner, Gerald Schneider, Joseph Senger and Dean Windhorst.
• Prosecutors accuse the defendants and others of distributing at least 500 grams of meth. The drugs were allegedly obtained in Arizona and California and trans

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