This article was originally published in the Yellowstone County News on February 6th, 2015.
By JUDY KILLEN
Kidnapping and other felony charges filed in North Dakota have been dismissed against a Worden woman accused with her brother of kidnapping their uncle.
Sandra Lou Potter had been charged in November with kidnapping, endangering and exploitation of a vulnerable adult and physical obstruction of a government function in McKenzie County District Court in Watford City, N.D. After a preliminary hearing in the case on Jan. 28, prosecutors dismissed the charges against Sandra Potter.
An order of dismissal indicates the charges were dismissed without prejudice, a legal term that allows charges to be re-filed in the future.
Jake Rodenbiker of the McKenzie County State’s attorney’s office said this week that the alleged events that led to the case against Potter remain under investigation, although “for the time being, the State of North Dakota has no criminal charges pending against her.”
“The evidence presented at the time of the preliminary hearing appeared to me insufficient to continue prosecution of the charges against Sandra Potter,” Rodenbiker said by email, “and so I felt ethically bound to ask the court (to) dismiss them without prejudice. They were dismissed without prejudice in order to allow for additional investigation to be conducted, which I have requested. The additional investigation may result in the same or similar charges being re-filed against Sandra Potter at a later date or it may result in no charge being re-filed.”
Potter and her brother, Thomas Potter, were arrested in late October. Officials arrested Sandra Potter in Worden and Thomas Potter near Yuma, Ariz. He was with their uncle, 84-year-old Robert Gross. They were accused of forcing him to live in deplorable conditions while attempting to make him sign over oil well rights, according to court records.
Thomas Potter has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and endangerment charges and a trial is scheduled for June 8 in McKenzie County District Court. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to 31 years in prison.
