jfh
Member.
...this seems like a reasonable resolution to the (in)famous incident a few months ago.
In exchange for guilty pleas, the former Indus school official was given a year's probation and must complete an anger management course and community service.
Wade Pilloud, 38, who resigned from the K-12 Indus public school along the Canadian border after parents complained to the school district about the shooting and his angry outburst that preceded it, pleaded guilty in mid-November to two misdemeanors: mistreatment of animals and criminal damage to property.
In exchange for the pleas, the Koochiching County attorney's office dismissed a felony charge of possessing a dangerous weapon on school property and a gross-misdemeanor charge of reckless handling of a weapon. The prosecutor's office also reduced the criminal-damage charge from a gross misdemeanor to a misdemeanor, according to court records.
When Pilloud was charged in October, animal-rights activists from around the country were critical in Internet postings that the charges didn't include mistreatment of animals. That offense was added as part of the plea negotiations.
"He was adamant that he hadn't endangered anyone and hadn't acted recklessly," Pilloud's attorney, Robert Wallner of Bemidji, said of his client. "But he realized he'd used bad judgment, and we felt the misdemeanors were a fair resolution."
Stink was raised
Pilloud said in October that he shot the kittens Sept. 21 because their mother was killed in a trap set for skunks and woodchucks under a mobile home where he lived on school property. He said the presumably wild kittens couldn't be caught, and "I did not want the kittens to starve or dehydrate to death."
Some students heard the shots, and complaints prompted a criminal investigation. The investigator learned that Pilloud was angry on the day of the shooting because one of the traps had captured a skunk and the smell had permeated Pilloud's belongings, according to a criminal complaint.
After changing his clothes three times, Pilloud overheard someone joking about the smell and "got up, stated that he quit, slammed the door and left the building," the complaint said.
Staff members then saw him fire two shots near the trailer with a 28-gauge shotgun. Later, a custodian found a fist-sized hole where Pilloud had punched a cafeteria door.
Officials of the South Koochiching/Rainy River School District said no one was endangered by the shooting, but Pilloud was placed on leave and later resigned with a settlement of six month's pay, about $31,000, the district's attorney said.
District Judge Chad Leduc sentenced Pilloud on each count to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, but stayed that sentence in lieu of a year's probation, during which he will have to perform 24 hours of community service and complete an anger management course, according to court records. Pilloud also paid $150 in fines, $164 in court costs and $370 restitution to the school for the damaged door.
Wallner said Pilloud hopes to resume his career as an educator. He could not be reached Thursday for comment. County Attorney Jennifer Hasbargen also was unavailable for comment, an assistant said.
State records indicate that Pilloud holds licenses to teach social studies, coach athletics and work as a secondary school principal or district superintendent.
The only crime that automatically causes revocation of such licenses is felony criminal sexual conduct, said Judith M. Eaton Lamp, executive director of the Minnesota Board of School Administrators.
Convictions of educators on all other offenses are reviewed "on a case-by-case basis," she said.
Wade Pilloud, 38, who resigned from the K-12 Indus public school along the Canadian border after parents complained to the school district about the shooting and his angry outburst that preceded it, pleaded guilty in mid-November to two misdemeanors: mistreatment of animals and criminal damage to property.
In exchange for the pleas, the Koochiching County attorney's office dismissed a felony charge of possessing a dangerous weapon on school property and a gross-misdemeanor charge of reckless handling of a weapon. The prosecutor's office also reduced the criminal-damage charge from a gross misdemeanor to a misdemeanor, according to court records.
When Pilloud was charged in October, animal-rights activists from around the country were critical in Internet postings that the charges didn't include mistreatment of animals. That offense was added as part of the plea negotiations.
"He was adamant that he hadn't endangered anyone and hadn't acted recklessly," Pilloud's attorney, Robert Wallner of Bemidji, said of his client. "But he realized he'd used bad judgment, and we felt the misdemeanors were a fair resolution."
Stink was raised
Pilloud said in October that he shot the kittens Sept. 21 because their mother was killed in a trap set for skunks and woodchucks under a mobile home where he lived on school property. He said the presumably wild kittens couldn't be caught, and "I did not want the kittens to starve or dehydrate to death."
Some students heard the shots, and complaints prompted a criminal investigation. The investigator learned that Pilloud was angry on the day of the shooting because one of the traps had captured a skunk and the smell had permeated Pilloud's belongings, according to a criminal complaint.
After changing his clothes three times, Pilloud overheard someone joking about the smell and "got up, stated that he quit, slammed the door and left the building," the complaint said.
Staff members then saw him fire two shots near the trailer with a 28-gauge shotgun. Later, a custodian found a fist-sized hole where Pilloud had punched a cafeteria door.
Officials of the South Koochiching/Rainy River School District said no one was endangered by the shooting, but Pilloud was placed on leave and later resigned with a settlement of six month's pay, about $31,000, the district's attorney said.
District Judge Chad Leduc sentenced Pilloud on each count to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, but stayed that sentence in lieu of a year's probation, during which he will have to perform 24 hours of community service and complete an anger management course, according to court records. Pilloud also paid $150 in fines, $164 in court costs and $370 restitution to the school for the damaged door.
Wallner said Pilloud hopes to resume his career as an educator. He could not be reached Thursday for comment. County Attorney Jennifer Hasbargen also was unavailable for comment, an assistant said.
State records indicate that Pilloud holds licenses to teach social studies, coach athletics and work as a secondary school principal or district superintendent.
The only crime that automatically causes revocation of such licenses is felony criminal sexual conduct, said Judith M. Eaton Lamp, executive director of the Minnesota Board of School Administrators.
Convictions of educators on all other offenses are reviewed "on a case-by-case basis," she said.
