5 arrested in armed standoff near Lakota

Five members of a rural Lakota, N.D., family face criminal charges after a standoff with authorities over a handful of stray cattle.

Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke said the owner of the cattle called his office Thursday morning to say they were missing.

The man told Janke that Rodney Brossart had the cattle, but that Brossart claimed he could keep them according to open range laws, Janke said.

“That’s when our office got the initial call, when (the owner) wasn’t having much luck,” Janke said.

When law enforcement headed to the Brossart family farm around 1 p.m. Thursday, Brossart refused to return the livestock, Janke said.

Officers then arrested Rodney Brossart, after stunning him with a Taser, the criminal complaint said.

“The place where he resisted arrest was kind of a mudhole,” Janke said, explaining why Brossart appears mud-splattered in his booking photo.

Brossart has been charged with failing to notify authorities that the cattle were on his property and with preventing his own arrest, both misdemeanors.

Daughter Abby Brossart is charged with simple assault for allegedly striking a sergeant who was trying to arrest her father.

After Rodney and Abby Brossart were taken to the Lake Region Correctional Center in Devils Lake, law enforcement returned to the Brossart farm to claim the cattle, this time with a search warrant, Janke said.

Three of Rodney’s adult sons, Alex, Jacob, and Thomas Brossart, confronted officers “with long rifles,” Janke said.

Officers backed off, calling in reinforcements including agencies from Griggs, Ramsey and Steele counties and the Grand Forks SWAT team.

After failed attempts to negotiate with the brothers, authorities withdrew at about 10:45 p.m., Janke said, though they “maintained contact with the house” through the night.

Law enforcement, including the SWAT team, returned to the house around 10 a.m. Friday to claim the cattle.

The three Brossart brothers again ordered law enforcement off their property. But Friday morning, they were unarmed, Janke said, and officers arrested them and took them to jail in Devils Lake.

The three are being charged with terrorizing, according to criminal complaints filed Friday.

At a bond hearing Friday afternoon, Rodney Brossart’s bond was set at $10,000 cash or surety. Alex, Jacob, and Thomas Brossart will all have to post $25,000 bond to get out of jail. Abby Brossart’s bail was set at $5,000, requiring her to post 10 percent, or $500.

The Brossarts are scheduled to appear in court next July 29.

They did not return messages left for them Friday at the Lake Region Correctional Center.

Gulya reports on crime and courts. Reach her at (701) 780-1118; (800) 477-6572, ext. 118; or send email to lgulya@gfherald.com.

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