In continuing developments in the Dakota News Now/Austin Goss arrest story, an on-line profile for Goss which was available earlier today at https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/authors/austin-goss-1/…

…is no longer available, and is leading the user to the following 404/Page Not Found website error…

 

Goss’ information has also been removed from Dakota News Now’s “Meet the team” page.

Dakota News Now has not released any information in the matter aside from the story on their website, as well as on their sister station’s website.

KELOland has a fancy infographic with dramatic music on the Austin Goss arrest story that they’re running on their website. Given that Dakota News Now are their big competitors for the televised media space..

You can view it at keloland.com.

Dakota News Now has posted their story on their reporter Austin Goss being arrested.. and they seem to be mincing few words on how they are portraying it:

Political reporter arrested for impersonating Noem

Political reporter Austin Goss of Dakota News Now was arrested for making a prank phone call while impersonating Governor Kristi Noem.

Read it all here.

They’re pretty abrupt about the matter, and it seems like they’ve ripped the bandaid off. We’ll see how this story continues to develop.

In other court news.. besides a convicted felon/track coach/Regents employee allegedly slapping a student, and the arrest of one of South Dakota’s political reporters, former Republican State Senate candidate Joel Koskan is now part of South Dakota’s sex offender registry, with the central clearinghouse for state sex offender information noting his mugshot, crime, and present place of residence at the South Dakota State Penitentiary.

You can look up sex offender information at the state’s Sex Offender Registry website here.

From the Argus Leader comes additional reporting on the story we broke earlier today:

A Dakota News Now reporter has been arrested on charges alleging he made a prank phone call to the former chair of the South Dakota Republican Party using Gov. Kristi Noem’s personal cell phone number, according to court documents.

The Stanley County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that Austin Goss, the capitol bureau reporter for Dakota News Now, had been arrested Thursday morning and released on a personal recognizance bond.

and..

Investigators said given that Goss likely had both Noem’s and Lederman’s cell phone numbers, and that his internet connection was password protected, probable cause existed that he made the call.

Read the entire story here.

I did reach out to former SDGOP Chair Dan Lederman for comment, and he noted that he “wasn’t going to comment on an ongoing criminal investigation.”

In the breaking story today of Dakota News Now reporter Austin Goss’ arrest for a prank phone call that spoofed Governor Kristi Noem’s identity and phone number, I can’t help but be reminded of the decade-old saga of Dan Willard, who along with Gary Dykstra (and unindicted co-conspirator Stace Nelson) was similarly accused of monkey business with phone calls in the political arena.

From the August 29, 2013 Argus Leader story titled “Key Witnesses in robocall trial talks about election effort”:

You might be able to research it more at argusleader.com.

The point being, even if a person thinks they’re anonymous in their pranking, whether it’s in person, or over the Internet, they really aren’t.

And if law enforcement is determined to do so, it might take some time, but the identity of the person initiating this stuff can be discovered.

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.

Flags at Half-Staff at State Capitol in Honor of Former State Representative Marie C. Ingalls

PIERRE, S.D. – Today, Governor Kristi Noem ordered that flags be flown at half-staff at the State Capitol from sunrise until sunset on Sunday, May 7^th, 2023, in honor of former State Representative Marie C. Ingalls. She served in the South Dakota State Legislature from 1987-1992.

Memorial services for former Rep. Ingalls will take place at 11:00 am on May 7^th, 2023, at the Faith Community Center, 204 N Main St, Faith, SD, followed by a celebration of life at 2:00pm at Bethel Lutheran Church, 419 Main St S, Faith, SD.

###

I just caught this story in the Pierre Capital Journal, and had to highlight it because it takes a crazy number of twists and turns, as an employee of the Board of Regents – who also coaches track – reportedly assaulted a student under his purview. Not to mention the story notes that this state employee was convicted stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars and is still paying restitution.

A Stanley County High School student was “slapped in the face” by Buffaloes head coach Scott Van Den Hemel during a track meet in Todd County on April 14, according to witnesses and the student’s mother, who said she saw videos of the assault.

and…

In 2004, Van Den Hemel was found guilty on two counts of forgery and one count of embezzlement and served five years in prison. He was working as the comptroller at Wegner Auto and stole $284,000, according to court documents. He was ordered to repay the auto dealership; his most recent payment of $500 was docketed April 20, according to court records.

After being released from prison, Van Den Hemel was hired by the South Dakota Board of Regents as a financial compliance officer and is paid $93,504 per year.

and..

In a follow up phone call to the Capital Journal, Baldwin said there was no assault to report and the incident had been resolved by the school. He then said the Capital Journal should not report on the incident, then stated, “You want to have a positive relationship with the school.”

Read it here.

You have to love the fact the superintendent claims “there was no assault,” despite the fact he’s not an attorney. I think that’s up to a State’s Attorney to decide, not him. But it sounds as if there’s pretty some witnesses.. and video.. that might speak to the contrary. That’s bad. But then the story goes off the rails.

What the hell? Here’s someone who stole a little under $300,000 from a business, and as a convicted felon is paying it back at $500 a month, yet has the privilege of a fairly well-paying state job, making just under $100k a year with the State of South Dakota.

So many things to unpack here.

Aside from the assault of a student, and the School District’s light slap on the wrist; How does someone making $93,504 a year with the privilege of a job with the State of South Dakota – and has court ordered restitution for embezzlement – get away with only paying 6.4% of his salary to his victim?

I’m sure Stanley County athletics can find someone to coach who is less prone to use that kind of discipline with children.

And I know the state can do better for crime victims than requiring one of the State of South Dakota’s highest paid embezzlers to pay less in restitution than what’s charged for sales tax.

(Update – I did add the part in the article about the Supt. telling the paper they shouldn’t report on it, and making the thinly veiled comment about how the paper wants “to have a positive relationship with the school.” I’m sure that’s going to work well for him.) 

I hadn’t seen it mentioned, but former Republican State Representative Loren Anderson, who represented Yankton in the mid-late 1980’s through 1990 passed away on April 22, as noted by this obituary in the Pierre Capital Journal:

The Celebration of Life will be held at 1:00 p.m., on Thursday, July 6, 2023 at Kober Funeral Home in Vermillion. Burial of ashes will be at Bluff View Cemetery with military honors conducted by V.F.W. Clay CO. Post #3061. Our request is that any memorials be directed to a charity of your choosing.

and..

While at Yankton College, Loren opened and brokered Anderson Realty in Yankton until 2006. In 1983 he ran for the SD State House of Representative and served in that capacity until 1990. During that time, he was also brokering an office in Huron, SD, teaching Business Classes in Santee, NE, and teaching real estate courses throughout South Dakota to the people that wanted to become realtors, realtors that wanted continuing education and to auctioneers. Loren was elected by his peers as South Dakota Realtor of the year in 2003.

Read it all here.

Anderson had served in Pierre for 8 years, and was going for an additional term in 1990, when he lost to Democrats Garry Moore and Jim Abbott in what started to be a few tough years electorally for the GOP.