Colfax domestic disturbance call reported man with a knife

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  A report of a domestic disturbance involving a man with a knife in Colfax turned out not to be true.

At least the part about the knife did not appear to be true.

There was a domestic disturbance.

According to Colfax Police Chief William Anderson, Dunn County received a 911 call about a disturbance or altercation in the area of Third Avenue and Cedar Street around approximately 11:10 a.m. Wednesday, March 11.

The caller reported there was a man with a knife, Police Chief Anderson said, adding that while he was on his way to the address in question, dispatch said the last name of the man involved was Herrera.

When Police Chief Anderson arrived at the residence, Leo Herrera, 59, came out of the back door of his residence and said he did not have a knife.

Herrera went on to inform Police Chief Anderson that he had been involved in an argument with his wife, Karen, and that she had left the area.

Herrera denied a knife being involved in the altercation but said that his wife may have a knife, Police Chief Anderson said.

While Police Chief Anderson was speaking with Leo Herrera, Dunn County dispatch informed the police chief that Karen Herrera, 53, was at Cedar Country Cooperative, waiting to speak with an officer.

A Dunn County deputy arrived at the Herrera residence, and Police Chief Anderson went to Cedar Country Cooperative, where a Dunn County investigator was already on the scene.

Karen Herrera confirmed to Police Chief Anderson that there had been an argument and claimed that her husband did have a knife on him inside the residence but that he did not threaten her with it.

Leo and Karen Herrera gave conflicting stories as to what had happened, and there were no witnesses to the physical confrontation between the two of them, Police Chief Anderson said.

Leo and Karen Herrera were both arrested, and both were charged with state disorderly conduct and taken to the Dunn County jail, he said.

Probation officers for both Leo and Karen Herrera were notified, Police Chief Anderson noted.

According to online court records for Dunn County, Leo Herrera pleaded guilty to felony possession of methamphetamine and felony bail jumping in November of 2013. Charges of maintaining a drug trafficking place, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia were dismissed on a prosecutor’s motion.

Leo Herrera was sentenced to three years of probation and 50 hours of community service and was ordered by Judge Rod Smeltzer to participate in an alcohol and drug assessment and to not possess any firearms.

According to online court records, Karen Herrera pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana and was sentenced to one year of probation in July of 2013.

Charges of maintaining a drug trafficking place, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of an illegally obtained prescription were dismissed on a prosecutor’s motion.

The court accepted a deferred prosecution agreement for one felony count of possession of methamphetamine.

A deferred prosecution hearing for Karen Herrera is scheduled in Dunn County Circuit Court in July.