{"id":2096,"date":"2025-12-11T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=2096"},"modified":"2025-12-11T04:51:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T10:51:23","slug":"thief-river-falls-teen-charged-with-dwi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/thief-river-falls-teen-charged-with-dwi\/","title":{"rendered":"Thief River Falls Teen Charged With DWI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Thief River Falls <\/strong>(<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2013 An 18-year-old Thief River Falls woman faces drunk driving and cannabis-related charges after a late-night traffic stop on Highway 59 Southeast.<\/p>\n<h2>Traffic stop on Highway 59<\/h2>\n<p>The Pennington County Sheriff\u2019s Office reports that a deputy stopped a vehicle in the 1900 block of Highway 59 Southeast at about 2:19 a.m. on November 29.<br \/>\nThe driver was identified as <strong>Olivia Mary Rose Wengeler<\/strong> of Thief River Falls.<\/p>\n<p><!-- Mugshot centered in the middle of the story --><\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center; margin: 1.5em 0;\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/WengelerOlivia.jpg\" alt=\"Mugshot of Olivia Mary Rose Wengeler\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 0.9em; color: #555; margin-top: 0.5em;\">Mugshot: Olivia Mary Rose Wengeler<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to the report, the deputy suspected impairment during the stop.<br \/>\nWengeler was later cited for fourth-degree driving while impaired and possession of an open cannabis package in a motor vehicle under Minnesota law.<\/p>\n<h2>Charges and legal process<\/h2>\n<p>Officials noted that her blood alcohol content was listed as unavailable on the citation.<br \/>\nMinnesota\u2019s legal blood alcohol concentration limit for most drivers is 0.08, but drivers can face a DWI charge at lower levels if impairment is observed.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/dps.mn.gov\/divisions\/ots\/safe-driving-information-and-laws\/traffic-safety-laws\/impaired-driving-laws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nThe Minnesota Department of Public Safety explains these limits and penalties<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Wengeler was arrested at the scene and taken to jail.<br \/>\nDetails about future court dates were not yet listed in public records as of publication time.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth-degree DWI is commonly charged in Minnesota for first-time offenses without aggravating factors.<br \/>\nA conviction can bring possible jail time, fines, license restrictions, and mandatory education or treatment requirements, depending on the case.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dui.org\/dui-laws\/minnesota\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nLegal guides on Minnesota DWI laws outline potential penalties<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<h2>Minnesota cannabis open package law<\/h2>\n<p>Minnesota\u2019s open cannabis package law makes it illegal to keep improperly packaged cannabis flower or products in the passenger area of a vehicle on a street or highway.<br \/>\nThe statute functions much like the state\u2019s open alcohol container law and is generally charged as a misdemeanor offense.<br \/>\nThe law is set out in Minnesota Statute 169A.36 and related guidance.<\/p>\n<p>Recent reports note that prosecutors across Minnesota have filed thousands of cases involving cannabis in vehicles since legalization, underscoring how often drivers encounter this law in traffic stops.<\/p>\n<h2>Impaired driving safety message<\/h2>\n<p>Drivers in Minnesota are urged to plan a sober ride, use a designated driver, or arrange for a ride-share or taxi if they have been drinking or using cannabis.<br \/>\nState safety officials say impaired driving remains a major factor in serious crashes statewide.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.minnesotatzd.org\/resources\/impaired\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nMinnesota Toward Zero Deaths&#8217; impaired driving resources <\/a>describe the ongoing impact of alcohol- and drug-impaired crashes.<\/p>\n<p>More information about impaired driving laws and penalties is available from the<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/dps.mn.gov\/divisions\/ots\/safe-driving-information-and-laws\/traffic-safety-laws\/impaired-driving-laws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nMinnesota Department of Public Safety\u00a0<\/a>and other official state resources.<\/p>\n<p>This case remains under review in Pennington County.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m Chris Harper reporting for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thief River Falls (trfnews.i234.me) \u2013 An 18-year-old Thief River Falls woman faces drunk driving and cannabis-related charges after a late-night traffic stop on Highway 59 Southeast. Traffic stop on Highway 59 The Pennington County Sheriff\u2019s Office reports that a deputy stopped a vehicle in the 1900 block of Highway 59 Southeast at about 2:19 a.m.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/thief-river-falls-teen-charged-with-dwi\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Thief River Falls Teen Charged With DWI<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[770,772,1329,883,827,2392,818,2393,2391,2390,777,824,1007,825,778,1219,786,93],"class_list":["post-2096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-charged","tag-crime","tag-drunk-driving","tag-dwi","tag-falls","tag-highway-59","tag-minnesota","tag-olivia-mary-rose-wengeler","tag-open-cannabis-container","tag-open-cannabis-package","tag-pennington-county","tag-river","tag-teen","tag-thief","tag-thief-river-falls","tag-traffic-stop","tag-trf-news","tag-with","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2102,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2096\/revisions\/2102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}