{"id":28785,"date":"2026-05-16T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=28785"},"modified":"2026-05-14T06:07:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T11:07:27","slug":"thief-river-falls-man-faces-interlock-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/thief-river-falls-man-faces-interlock-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Thief River Falls Man Faces Interlock Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thief River Falls<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Thief River Falls man is facing a gross misdemeanor charge after a traffic stop in Pennington County.<\/p>\n

Michael Scott McPherson has been charged in Pennington County District Court with violating a restricted driver\u2019s license tied to ignition interlock requirements.<\/p>\n

The case was filed in Minnesota\u2019s Ninth Judicial District under court file number 57-CR-26-272.<\/p>\n

Traffic Stop On Highway 1<\/h2>\n

According to the criminal complaint, the stop happened on March 23, 2026.<\/p>\n

A Minnesota State Patrol trooper reported seeing a Chevy Impala traveling eastbound on Highway 1 near 150th Avenue Northeast.<\/p>\n

The complaint says the vehicle had a headlight out.<\/p>\n

The trooper stopped the vehicle and identified the driver as Michael Scott McPherson.<\/p>\n

Authorities said McPherson\u2019s Minnesota driver\u2019s license was valid.<\/p>\n

However, the complaint states his license had an ignition interlock restriction.<\/p>\n

\n

\"MichaelMichael Scott McPherson<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ignition Interlock Allegation<\/h2>\n

The complaint says the trooper did not see an ignition interlock device in the vehicle.<\/p>\n

When asked about the device, McPherson allegedly said it was \u201cnot in this car.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was arrested shortly after the traffic stop.<\/p>\n

McPherson was taken to the Pennington County Jail.<\/p>\n

The complaint states he was later booked and released.<\/p>\n

Under Minnesota Statute 171.09<\/a>, a driver with certain restrictions may not operate a vehicle that lacks a certified ignition interlock device.<\/p>\n

The charge listed in the complaint is a gross misdemeanor.<\/p>\n

The maximum penalty is 364 days in jail, a $3,000 fine, or both.<\/p>\n

The Pennington County District Court<\/a> handles criminal and traffic cases filed in the county.<\/p>\n

The charge is an accusation.<\/p>\n

McPherson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thief River Falls (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Thief River Falls man is facing a gross misdemeanor charge after a traffic stop in Pennington County. Michael Scott McPherson has been charged in Pennington County District Court with violating a restricted driver\u2019s license tied to ignition interlock requirements. The case was filed in Minnesota\u2019s Ninth Judicial District under… Continue reading Thief River Falls Man Faces Interlock Charge<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28787,"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":[5274,6536,17483,1286,777,778,1219],"class_list":["post-28785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-gross-misdemeanor","tag-ignition-interlock","tag-michael-mcpherson","tag-minnesota-court","tag-pennington-county","tag-thief-river-falls","tag-traffic-stop","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28785","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=28785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}