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July 22, 2009

Court records show Heilman had past

Victim, deputy both appear in public records

By Dan Nienaber

LE CENTER — A 24-year-old Kasota man shot by a Le Sueur County sheriff’s deputy Monday had been in trouble with law enforcement before.

Tyler Mark Heilman had been cited or charged 19 times between 2001 and 2007. Only three of the incidents involved felony charges, including a first-degree burglary charge in 2004, a criminal damage to property charge in 2005 and an assault charge in 2006.

Court records also show the deputy who fired the shots that killed Heilman, 37-year-old Todd Waldron, also had run-ins with the law before becoming a police officer and deputy. One included a driving while intoxicated charge investigated by deputy David Tietz, who is now a fellow investigator with the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Department.

Heilman’s 2006 assault charge, and four less serious charges, stemmed from incidents in Le Sueur County. Waldron was not listed in court records as being an officer involved in any of those incidents.

On April 11, 2006, other Le Sueur County deputies responded to a report of a fight at the Stone Creek Bar in Kasota. They found Andrew Comeaux bleeding outside the bar, which was closed when deputies responded at about 11:45 p.m.

Comeaux and other witnesses said Heilman hit Comeaux on the back of the head with a beer bottle. Then Heilman punched Comeaux several times before whacking him with a pool cue after he was on the ground.

After pleading guilty to a second-degree assault charge in November, 2005, Heilman was in court again for a probation violation in January, 2007. He had been driving without a license and was followed to a house in St. Peter by a police officer. An opened bottle of whiskey was found in the car, and the officer reported Heilman ran about 30 feet before being arrested without incident.

Le Sueur County would not confirm Todd Waldron’s middle name, but court records also show a Todd Jess Waldron, also now 37, was arrested in Le Sueur County for drunken driving in 1995. That Waldron also had a Mankato address. Records released by the county Tuesday showed deputy Todd Waldron was attending Minnesota State University in Mankato at the time.

When deputy Tietz was dispatched to a crash on Le Sueur County Road 107, just south of Highway 99, he found Todd Jess Waldron near a badly damaged pickup. Waldron said his friend, identified as James Card, had been driving the pickup, which was registered to Waldron.

When Card was found at his mother’s home a short time later, he said Waldron was driving. Waldron later admitted to being behind the wheel and an alcohol test showed he had a blood-alcohol concentration of .17, court records said.

He pleaded guilty and was issued a suspended sentence. The case was dismissed in December 1996 after Waldron successfully completed one year of probation.

The same Todd Waldron was also cited for disorderly conduct in Blue Earth County in 1994. He received a stayed sentence in that case, too, after pleading guilty and being fined $95.

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