Legal

No jail time required for Kingsley funeral director (09/03/08)
A Kingsley funeral director will have to pay nearly $180,000 in restitution to a former business partner for money he admitted to stealing, but he faces no prison time. Mark Francis Rohde, 49, who pleaded guilty in August to stealing about $179,000 and to tax evasion, both felonies, was sentenced Tuesday in Plymouth County District Court...

Kingsley funeral director pleads guilty to theft (08/19/08)
A Kingsley funeral director pleaded guilty to stealing about $175,000 and avoiding paying taxes Monday in Plymouth County District Court. Mark Francis Rohde, 49, pleaded guilty to theft in the first degree and tax evasion as part of a plea agreement...

Our Dreams: Class of 2008 (06/12/08)
This is the fourth story in a series looking at what plans and dreams local members of the graduating class of 2008 hope to pursue. For Shahryar Naqvi, the desire become a lawyer isn't motivated by fame, fancy things, or even the money that is commonly associated with the practice. For this 2008 Gehlen Catholic High School graduate, the aspiration to become a lawyer lies in one, pure motive: To achieve equality for the little guy...

Trial pushed back in stabbing case (06/03/08)
The jury trial for a man charged with stabbing another man with a butcher knife in a Le Mars apartment has been pushed again. Jody Brent O'Keefe, 35, of Le Mars won't go to trial for first-degree murder charges until August 26 at 9:30 a.m. O'Keefe's charges stem from an stabbing incident Jan. 24 in a Le Mars apartment that left Samuel Ray Toliver, 32, dead...

Velarde pleads not guilty in stabbing (05/28/08)
The man charged with stabbing one person and injuring another downtown Le Mars in April pleaded not guilty last week. Christopher Velarde, 23, of Maurice, now face a July 22 trial for willfully causing serious injury, a class C felony, and assaulting someone, causing injury, an aggravated misdemeanor...