Beltrami County warns residents after Level 3 offender moves to Cass Lake

Beltrami County has issued a community notification after Level 3 predatory offender Anthony James Wittner moved into Cass Lake, a designation the Minnesota Department of Corrections says is the highest risk tier for re-offense.

Under state rules, residents in a neighborhood where a Level 3 offender moves in are notified by local law enforcement. County officials say the warning is meant to help people stay alert and understand the practical meaning of the highest-level designation, which is tied to a greater concern for public safety.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections identifies Wittner, born July 14, 1996, in Beltrami County court file 04-CR-19-2196. State records list kidnapping as his highest-ranked offense.

The underlying 2019 case involved allegations that a man and a woman were attacked at Grass Lake Mobile Home Park in Bemidji. The man said he was held against his will, bound with zip ties and subjected to water torture, while the woman suffered severe injuries and was taken to a Fargo hospital. Wittner and Edward W. Jenkins-Whitefeather, Jr., were charged in Beltrami County District Court in connection with the case.

A March 2020 report said Wittner was sentenced to 81 months in prison, with four and a half years in custody and 27 months on conditional release. The case drew wide attention in Beltrami County because of the nature of the allegations and the violence reported at a local mobile home park.

The notification lands in a county that stretches across more than 3,000 square miles and serves over 47,000 residents, according to the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office. That number rises sharply in summer, when tourism pushes the population to more than double the year-round count. In a county that large, officials say the notification system is one of the main ways local law enforcement alerts neighborhoods when a high-risk offender moves nearby.