In a story which is just breaking, Dakota News Now Political Reporter Austin Goss has been arrested for one count of violating SDCL 49-31-31(5)(b), making threatening, harassing, or misleading contacts, and displaying the telephone number of another person.
According to the probable cause statement, “the caller ID of the prank call had been set to appear as though it was coming from South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem’s personal cell phone,” and the complainant “provided law enforcement with a screenshot of this call which showed the Governor’s personal cell phone number and contact information to be displayed.”
The affidavit of probable cause continues to identify Austin Goss of Dakota News Now, noting that “Austin Goss did contact D.L. by telephone or other electronic device with the intent to harass and annoy him, and in doing so intentionally causes a fictitious and misleading caller identification or telephone number (that of Governor Noem) to be displayed.”
The arrest appears to have taken place yesterday, and you can read and judge for yourself the arrest and charging documents below:
AustinGossArrest_ImpersonatingGovNoem by Pat Powers on Scribd
The charge is a Class 1 misdemeanor, which according to South Dakota Law is punishable by one year imprisonment in a county jail or two thousand dollars fine, or both.
What the Actual H***?
And I thought the BOR Employee/convicted felon/slapping track coach story was crazy!
It must be the water in Ft. Pierre or something.
What was he thinking? “This will be really funny – I’ll spoof the Governor’s phone number.”
He’ll be gone — next gig somewhere in the Northwest Territories.
That is actually a pretty funny prank call- I love prankdialer.com, but didn’t know I could be prosecuted for using it in South Dakota.
If this even happened, why is it such a big deal? I think longtime political operatives like Dan Lederman and a sitting Governor have bigger things to worry about than a dumb prank voice message left on an answering machine
It’s a big deal because he’s using the Governor’s phone number. Legally, most probably don’t care. More practically speaking, I suspect his employer will have strong opinions on his behavior.
Unfortunate prank. Austin has done a good job as a reporter covering South Dakota politics. Apparently he’s not infallible, humans make mistakes
Given that this Governor has a history of attacking journalists was this a new tactic? Has Austin reported anything offensive to the Governor or her administration?
Another example of why the media is untrustworthy.
Haha what the heck. Any guesses who DL is? Also is this really worthy of an arrest?
Its not hard to figure out
Former SDGOP Chair Dan Lederman has disclosed that he’s the DL being mentioned in the court documents.
The law is the law, but what this really shows is a lack of maturity and professionalism. As a political journalist, he comes into close contact with important officials and has to have the ability to speak truth to power, which Austin seems to have done a good job of. But with that comes access to information, like the Gov’s personal cell phone (plus I am sure a lot more), that require a level of diligence and professionalism many don’t have to demonstrate.
I’m with Dave — that’s actually pretty funny. I could maybe see JW getting upset enough to call the cops over something like this, but I always thought DL had a pretty good sense of humor.
You know, in retrospect, I will give Dan the benefit of the doubt. It sounds like he may have thought it was a more important deal than it turned out to be. I’ve dogged on him a couple of times in the past and never gotten sent to the pokey, so I suppose this is atypical.
This makes me sad. Austin in a fine young man who is involved in his community as a member of the Ft. Pierre Volunteer Fire Department and The SD National Gaurd. He is also a devoted family man. I hope this unfortunate lapse in judgement on his part is not blown out of proportion. Frankly, after reading the affidavit of probable cause and seeing that it was disclosed as a prank at the time the call was made; I can’t believe law enforcement was involved in this matter.
I suspect the issue is more that it was purportedly impersonating Governor Noem, and using her personal cell phone number.
How many cell phones does Governor Noem have? How many people have her number?
One. She regularly jokes about how everyone has her number.
I suppose the spurious call was meant to be a joke among friends…or acquaintances…Goss was probably drinking…such things happen in Pierre. A late April Fools stunt. But..you have to be careful when spoofing elected officials…they take themselves quite seriously.
Knowing how Russia has infiltrated our voting machines and laptops we best make sure this isn’t a brand new South Dakota RussiaGate!!!!!
I agree with both Sen’s. Schoenbeck and Mehlhaff comments above. Austin, a great young reporter and communicator, should learn from this and not be destroyed over one dumb mistake.
Well said, Representative.
Why do some people rush to defend a criminal?
He committed a crime, and he should own it.
hE commItTED A CrIMe, AnD hE sHoUld OwN iT.
Oh, brother. 🙄
Reported it to the highway patrol????
This tragic news demonstrates a truly warped sense of right and wrong on the part of Kristi Noem and Dan Lederman. As some of the comments already question, does anyone deserve the disproportionate consequences of such a sophomoric, stupid joke as this? The probable cause affidavit claims Lederman “was annoyed by the prank phone call and that the tone and tenor of the audio recording startled him and caused him concern for his safety.” Really? Lederman’s first thought may have been “what is this,” but the call quickly ends with: “Hahahahahaha! You’ve just been pranked by PrankDial.com.” Mystery solved. Laugh or not. It’s done. It’s over. No harm. No foul. At least, that’s how a sensible person would react. That begs the question (again, other comments have already asked it) what do Noem and Lederman get out of intentionally harming Austin Goss? But does the answer really matter? The viciousness of this prosecution speaks more to Noem’s and Lederman’s character than it does to Austin’s alleged criminality.
If you don’t like the law, change it.
I love the law. This appears to be a ridiculous application of it. I find it very hard to believe that this statute was written for this purpose, and, based on what I’ve read, it appears highly doubtful that Goss possessed the requisite criminal intent. We used to say “innocent until proven guilty.” Do we still believe that? My previous comment was saying (or trying to say) that what’s needed here is common sense and decency. I might add that the probable cause affidavit lacks factual support for the contention in the complaint that Noem “has not granted Defendant the right to display [her] name or phone number.” It doesn’t even say that Special Agent Swanson interviewed or spoke with the Governor. So is she going to testify in this case?
I don’t think many care if he’s really prosecuted or at least penalized very heavily for this prank. But I think his employer got it right. He can’t be a reporter and do this kind of thing. Very immature and embarrassing. Dumb, really.
Goss also seems to be a little too cozy with some legislators. I think it’s OK to have a friendly rapport with the people you are covering, but friendships are a little much. How many legislators showed up to his wedding? Anyone else think that was odd?
Agree though that this will be old news by Sunday. He shouldn’t get another job as a reporter, but he’ll land elsewhere.
were they Democrat legislators of a similar age?
On second thought, judgment may be a better word than “character.”
This comment can be summed up in two words: victim blaming.
If you’ve read the broader stories about this, Lederman and Noem thought this was tied to her SSN being leaked by a congressional committee, that’s why they reported it to authorities. They would’ve had no way of knowing it was Austin at that point.
Obviously, the decision to do this was stupid, and knowing Austin, he probably regrets it. But the one thing no one seems to be talking about is why is the application of this statute appropriate? A prank – that announces itself as such – hardly qualifies as harassment, threats, or material impersonation of the Governor. Arresting a person, potential jail time, and losing his livelihood (he was just fired) is outrageously unreasonable. There are pranks that cause harm. The only harm that this prank seems to have caused is to Austin’s reputation. We’ve seen how Dan reacted to this. The good news for Austin is that an element of the crime requires the Governor to be involved (5(b)). I’m hopeful she’ll see this for what it is and have it tossed.
It has nothing to do with requiring the Governor to be involved.
Read the statute. It absolutely does.
I did.
(5) Except as allowed in § 49-31-31.2, to contact or to attempt to contact another person and, in so doing, intentionally cause to be displayed as caller identification, a fictitious or misleading name or telephone number:
(a) To defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value from another person; or
(b) Of another person who has not granted the person the right to display that other person’s name or phone number, as applicable.
Somehow, I think he would be hard-pressed to prove to the judge that he had permission to call himself Kristi Noem.
The point is she can make this go away by saying, this was stupid, but sure, he had my permission. If she doesn’t, which is where things stand now, she has to testify to the opposite point.
And something to note – she doesn’t have two cell phones (as is implied with the “personal” cell phone reference. She has one. And virtually every person she meets gets the number. She has joked about this in public countless times.
Why would she insert herself into the issue to make it go away? Let the system work. If he’s contrite, he gets a slap on the wrist. He also probably can get it scrubbed from his record at some point, as long as he doesn’t have any other legal problems. Really poor judgment on his part, but the biggest penalty he’ll likely receive is losing his job and the public embarrassment. The legal side will be a small fine and a stain on his record.
Your position is the statute is being applied correctly? That’s absurd. She is involved. The question is should she acknowledge the poor joke, put an end to the nonsensical prosecution, and let the guy move on? Or allow the abuse of the statute? It’s a no brainer.
You are asking the Governor to perjure herself for a reporter. Are you kidding me?
What are you talking about…? If she refuses to prosecute, there are no charges.
You want her to interfere in the Attorney General doing their job? Look, it sucks. He made a silly mistake and it is costing him. I dont think we should crucify the kid and he could still have a bright future. But the language of the statute is clear here.
The statue appears in the Public Utilities and Carriers section of code. It was probably aimed at the telemarketers who “fake” what numbers they are actually calling from in order to get people to think “Oh, I live in Pukwana and this call is coming from Pukwana.”