Three booked in Bemidji on first-degree riot charges
Three Bemidji residents were booked July 12 on first-degree riot charges, including one jail record describing a death-resulting, armed riot count.
Beltrami County Jail records show three people were booked in Bemidji on July 12 on riot-related charges, including two first-degree riot counts and one record that described the case as “Riot-1st Degree-Death Results-Armed w/Weapon.” The bookings involved Alayzha Skinaway, Jorgie Boswell and Curtis Silcox.
Skinaway’s jail entry listed a first-degree riot charge, and Boswell’s booking record also showed one count of first-degree riot. Silcox’s record used the more detailed language tying the charge to a death result and a weapon. No court hearing dates were listed in the jail entries reviewed for the three bookings.
In Minnesota, first-degree riot is defined in statute 609.71 as a situation in which three or more people disturb the public peace by unlawful force or violence, a death results, and one participant is armed with a dangerous weapon. The offense carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $35,000, or both. State law also separates riot into second- and third-degree offenses, depending on whether weapons are involved.
The bookings drew attention in Bemidji, where the Beltrami County Sheriff’s Office patrols more than 3,000 square miles and serves a county population of more than 47,000 residents. County officials say the summertime population can more than double because of tourism and outdoor recreation, a seasonal swing that can make major disturbances in the city more visible across the region.
Beltrami County Records maintains the initial investigative and criminal files for the sheriff’s office, the Bemidji Police Department and the Blackduck Police Department, and it also reports crime statistics to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. That makes the county records office a key place for later court filings, complaint details and agency documents tied to the Bemidji arrests.
For now, the jail records establish the bookings and the charges attached to each name. The next official step will come through court records, which will show whether prosecutors file formal complaints, what specific facts support the riot counts and whether the cases remain tied to a single disturbance or separate incidents.
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