‘Hindsight is 20/20,’ Olmsted County Attorney says about dismissing evidence a local cop committed a crime – Post Bulletin
ROCHESTER — Evidence that a local deputy may have committed a crime was disregarded by the Rochester Police Department last year because the witness had been deemed unreliable by both the department and the Olmsted County attorney‘s Office. A law enforcement investigation this month found the same deputy allegedly still engaging in similar conduct.
The witness testimony came nearly 18 months ago, when Chase Johnston reported to RPD and Olmsted County Adult Detention deputies that Olmsted County Sheriff’s Cpl. Mathew Richard Adamson had attempted to meet someone he thought was a
teenage girl after having a sexually charged conversation.
Johnston, a local vigilante who has posted videos on
YouTube in which he accused men of trying to meet children to sexually assault them,
made contact with Adamson last year on the social media application Whisper, an anonymous messaging app. Johnston was posing there as a teenage girl. It appears that Adamson sought to buy alcohol for people under age 21, possibly in exchange for sexual acts, according to screenshots of the conversation.
Adamson, an 18-year veteran deputy with the Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office, is now facing three felonies after he was caught in an
undercover sting conducted by Rochester and state investigators earlier this month as he tried to meet up with someone he thought was a teenage girl.
Even though RPD was aware of similar allegations against Adamson in May 2022, it never presented a case to prosecutors. While it is typically Olmsted County attorney Mark Ostrem’s office policy that all reported
sex crimes be sent to his office for review for any charging decisions,
an exception was made in Johnston’s case, according to both Ostrem and RPD.
That appears to have led to a missed opportunity, Johnston said: “Even if they couldn’t file charges, (Adamson) could have been found out after a quick investigation and dealt with a year ago.”
Following media reports about Adamson’s charges, Ostrem has asked local law enforcement to stop answering questions about the case against Adamson, so questions about whether Adamson met others online or in person between May 2022 and Nov. 1, 2023, cannot be answered.
Johnston is well-known to authorities from his vigilante tactics. Both RPD and the County attorney have condemned his investigative techniques. The volatile nature of Johnston’s confrontations and lack of professional training has led Ostrem to conclude that Johnston is a non-credible witness. Ostrem instructed local law enforcement not to present any investigations by Johnston to his office.
Ostrem did not answer whether his office has similar policies for any other potential witnesses.
One of Johnston’s investigations in Dodge County this summer eventually led to charges that ended in a
60-month sentence for Joseph Lee Carlson for possessing child sexual abuse material.
Around the same time as Johnston’s investigation, Carlson was also being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security.
Johnston, who posed as a child online, met Carlson at a park in Dodge Center. A heated exchange followed and Carlson accused Johnston of assault.
Following that meeting, the Dodge County Sheriff’s Office investigated Johnston’s claims and ultimately recommended charges against Carlson after finding a plethora of child sexual abuse material on his electronic devices.
A misdemeanor assault charge against Johnston was initially filed in Dodge County related to his confrontation with Carlson, but the case was later dismissed.
Ostrem’s office has charged Johnston in at least two cases related to Johnston’s investigations. One included claims that Johnston struck a man in the genitals, which resulted in a sexual assault charge against Johnston. That charge was eventually dismissed as part of a deal in which he
pleaded guilty to a lesser, non-sex crime charge.
Johnston is still facing a felony stalking charge related to one of his stings earlier this year.
Even though it now looks like Johnston was onto something regarding Adamson’s alleged actions, Ostrem said “hindsight is 20/20.”
attorney Mark Ostrem” srcset=”https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/156d2ac/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4239×2826+0+0/resize/840×560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F32%2F4d%2F7dbe1542481181412eb85d3cb2c9%2F030623-mark-ostrem-08239.jpg 1x,https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/34f9be8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4239×2826+0+0/resize/1680×1120!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F32%2F4d%2F7dbe1542481181412eb85d3cb2c9%2F030623-mark-ostrem-08239.jpg 2x” width=”840″ height=”560″ src=”https://cdn.forumcomm.com/dims4/default/156d2ac/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4239×2826+0+0/resize/840×560!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fforum-communications-production-web.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2F32%2F4d%2F7dbe1542481181412eb85d3cb2c9%2F030623-mark-ostrem-08239.jpg” data-lazy-load=”true” bad-src=”data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1NjBweCIgd2lkdGg9Ijg0MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=”/>
Olmsted County attorney Mark Ostrem is pictured Monday, March 6, 2023, in his office in Rochester.
Joe Ahlquist / Post Bulletin
“I can think of an infinite number of public safety events that we all wonder if someone knew something and didn’t say it or they did say something and it died on a vine somewhere,” he said. “I’m sure the communities in Lewiston, Maine; Buffalo, New York; and Boulder, Colorado struggle with the same thoughts. I can think of many events in our community where we can slap our foreheads and say ‘Why didn’t we see that coming?’”
RPD investigated Adamson after Johnston’s report, department spokeswoman Amanda Grayson said, and the department found the case did not meet the “burden of proof for prosecution.”
“As we have previously informed you, the tactics used by Chase Johnston present chain of custody issues that are problematic for prosecution, and his past actions and history with the criminal justice system make it so he is not a credible witness,” Grayson said. “Through our discussions with the County attorney’s Office on this issue, it has been mutually agreed upon that sting operations conducted by Chase Johnston will not be prosecuted. As such, the operation you are referring to that involves Chase Johnston was not referred to the Olmsted County attorney’s Office for prosecution.”
Grayson did not answer questions about how RPD investigated the claims made against a fellow peace officer or if a search warrant was ever sought for Adamson’s Whisper account. Instead, she directed questions to the Mower County attorney‘s Office, which is handling the case following Ostrem’s self-recusal from the case.
County attorneys recusing themselves is generally standard practice for charges involving local law enforcement.
Even if RPD had requested a search warrant, it is unlikely that it would have held up in court due to Johnston’s tactics when obtaining the information, according to Ostrem.
“It still takes significant proof that what is being looked for exists, in the location suggested, law enforcement is aware of that from legitimate, reliable sources and the request is not overbroad,” he said.
Ostrem said he stands by his decision to not seek prosecutions from information related to Johnston’s investigations and he doesn’t think a referral to his office regarding Adamson was warranted at the time.
“RPD thoroughly vetted the info they had and based on that info and the other conduct of Mr. Johnston, I am completely confident that the investigators appropriately handled the (non) referral,” he said.
The department provided a two-page incident report related to Johnston’s call to police regarding Adamson in response to a public data request by the Post Bulletin.
In it, an officer wrote that Johnston reported that he did a sting on an Olmsted County deputy on May 1, 2023. The deputy had shown up to a Target and circled the parking lot in a vehicle before leaving after previously speaking to Johnston, who posed as a teenage girl. The officer also noted that Johnston believed he was not taken seriously by police.
Chase Johnston.
Contributed / Chase Johnston
The department declined to provide more information regarding Adamson beyond a few unrelated contacts with law enforcement, citing a Minnesota public data statute that makes data associated with an active police investigation private.
The same statute allows for law enforcement agencies to release private data
“if the agency determines that the access will aid the law enforcement process, promote public safety, or dispel widespread rumor or unrest.”
“Sometimes in an effort to understand why or how something happens, we want to find a flaw,” Ostrem said. “In this community, we have two of the finest law enforcement agencies in the state. No one is perfect, but I don’t think there is any cause here to suggest anyone but the accused needs to answer for this conduct. Let’s let the system work.”
In addition to dismissing complaints by Johnston against a fellow cop, the police department sent a news release regarding Adamson’s arrest that failed to mention his role as a detention deputy.
Adamson’s criminal complaint, filed by the Mower County attorney‘s Office, only refers to Adamson as working at the Olmsted County Work Release Center and mentions that a photo he sent to investigators appeared to be taken in an Olmsted County courtroom.
Johnston shared screenshots of two conversations he had with Adamson on Whisper. In the conversations, Johnston posed as a 13- or 14-year-old girl.
Adamson had made a public post on the app offering to buy alcohol for anyone under 21 years old in Rochester in exchange for “services,” and in another post offered to meet up with women. Johnston responded to the messages and Adamson suggested performing sexual acts before he offered to meet at a Rochester Target. Adamson sent a picture of himself in one of the chats. When he saw the image, Johnston said, he was in disbelief.
“The second I saw that picture. I knew exactly who he was,” Johnston, who has a string of convictions in Olmsted County related to driving under the influence, assault and theft, said. “I knew his name.”
Gallery: Screenshots submitted by Johnston
1/Messages allegedly between Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputy Mathew Adamson and Chase Johnston around May of 2022.
2/Messages allegedly between Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputy Mathew Adamson and Chase Johnston around May of 2022.
3/Messages allegedly between Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputy Mathew Adamson and Chase Johnston around May of 2022.
4/Messages allegedly between Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputy Mathew Adamson and Chase Johnston around May of 2022.
5/Messages allegedly between Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputy Mathew Adamson and Chase Johnston around May of 2022.
6/Messages allegedly between Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputy Mathew Adamson and Chase Johnston around May of 2022.
7/Messages allegedly between Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputy Mathew Adamson and Chase Johnston around May of 2022.
8/Messages allegedly between Olmsted County Sheriff’s deputy Mathew Adamson and Chase Johnston around May of 2022.
Johnston and Adamson never ended up meeting. Johnston reported what he had found to law enforcement, and from his perspective, nothing appeared to come of it as law enforcement never followed up with him.
“They could have dug deeper but they didn’t take me seriously,” Johnston said. “How many minors has he met for real?”
Two local cops charged with sex crimes
Adamson has been employed by the sheriff’s office since 2005. He worked as a police officer in St. Charles from 2003 to 2007 and was a Rochester Public Schools substitute teacher from 2003 to 2005.
He has been placed on administrative leave, according to Olmsted County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Capt. Tim Parkin.
Parkin did not respond to a question about whether the sheriff’s office ever initiated an internal investigation into Adamson before this article was published.
Adamson is one of two law enforcement officials currently charged in Olmsted County with a sex crime against a child.
Former Rochester police officer Timothy Robert Morgenstern, 23, of Rochester, is
charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct, fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving contact, and using minors in a sexual performance,
all felonies. The charges also mention his position of authority over the victim.
Morgenstern is accused of grooming a teenage girl and raping her after meeting her as a coach at John Marshall High School in 2022, according to the criminal complaint.
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