Hennepin County warrant sweep brings in three on most wanted list
HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minn. (KMSP) - The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office led a countywide effort on Wednesday to pick up a few hundred people, who appear to be ignoring warrants.
“We give people a chance to turn themselves in if they so wish,” said Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek. “But if you're not going to come turn yourself in, we'll come hunt you down.”
In the last week, there's been a big focus on warrants. Three of the top ten most wanted in Hennepin County have been cuffed.
Larence Hood was convicted and sentenced for domestic assault by strangulation. He had a warrant for violating probation.
Verran Burdunice had a warrant for third degree murder.
On Wednesday, Corey Samborski was picked up. He was convicted of second degree assault and wanted for violating probation.
But the top ten have a lot of company. There is an extraordinary number of people who ignore warrants.
“We've got tens of thousands of people on the outstanding warrant list, every year like I said we've got 35 to 40 thousand people booked in the front doors of the Hennepin County Jail about 70 percent of them are repeat offenders,” said Stanek.
On Wednesday, the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office and 16 other agencies worked on 200 warrants. The focus was robbery, aggravated assault, sexual assault and serious property crimes.
Fox 9 followed along and realized finding the target isn't always easy, but that doesn't mean there wasn't progress.
“You'd be surprised the number of people we get phone calls about the next day,” said Stanek. “Couple days later saying ‘Hey, he or she is over here,’ and we run out and pick them up.”
The message from the sheriff is clear. Warrants don't go away. It's just up to you when you want to deal.
“Everybody else has got a winter sale going on, with the holidays we thought we would as well, but it's no bargain believe me,” he said. “The only bargain is getting to do so on your own terms, so it's not two o’clock in the morning, but rather 2 o'clock in the afternoon.”
The sheriff encourages anyone with a warrant to turn themselves in.