Press Release April 18, 2022
A Redwood County District Court jury found Richard Thomas Knutson, 69, of Wood Lake guilty of one count of felony Criminal Damage to Property in the First Degree, County Attorney Jenna Peterson announced Tuesday. The jury deliberated for approximately an hour on Wednesday, April 13th, before delivering the guilty verdict around 5:00 p.m.
According to the criminal complaint, testimony and evidence presented at trial, the Lower Sioux Tribal Police Department was called to Jackpot Junction Casino on February 15, 2020, at approximately 7:30 a.m. in response to a vehicle that had been vandalized. When officers arrived they observed Victim’s vehicle to have deep scratches consistent with damage from a key along both sides of the body of the vehicle. Officers reviewed Jackpot Junction Casino security footage and observed Defendant leave his hotel room, walk to the parking lot, walk all the way around the Victim’s vehicle in a manner consistent with the damage from the key and then return to his hotel room in the evening hours of February 14, 2020.
Tom Borgen, Assistant Redwood County Attorney, who prosecuted the case, told the jury in his closing argument, “no one else was seen on camera spending the amount of time near Victim’s vehicle that Defendant did prior to the damage being reported.”
Knutson will be sentenced May 23rd at the Redwood County Courthouse.