Sherburne County Jail Break Attempt Results in Federal Charges

Earlier this month in federal court in St. Paul, three federal detainees were indicted for assaulting two correctional officers at the Sherburne County Jail, located in Elk River.

Ira Lee Goodwin, age 26, Michael Scott Luedtke, age 25, and Edward McCabe Robinson, age 28, were specifically charged with one count of conspiracy to assault persons assisting federal law enforcement officers and two counts of assault upon a person assisting federal law enforcement officers.

The indictment alleges that on February 8, 2013, the defendants conspired with each other to use dangerous and deadly weapons to inflict bodily injury upon two correction officers employed at the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office. The defendants allegedly used a chair and a can of pepper spray to commit the assault. The officers sustained numerous injuries, one of them suffering a concussion. In performing their duties, the correction officers were assisting deputy United States Marshals.

Goodwin, an admitted member of the Native Mob street gang, was being detained in the Sherburne County Jail pending federal court sentencing, after earlier pleading guilty to charges related to the federal RICO trial now underway for several other members of that gang. Luedtke was being detained pending prison assignment after being sentenced to nearly 25 years in federal prison for committing an armed robbery. Robinson was being held while being tried in federal court on charges connected to an arson and murder on the Red Lake Indian Reservation. All three remain in custody in the Sherburne County Jail.

If convicted, the defendants face a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison on each assault charge and five years on the conspiracy charge. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge. This case is the result of an investigation by the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas M. Hollenhorst.

Information provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office - St. Paul