{"id":36754,"date":"2026-07-06T13:36:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=36754"},"modified":"2026-07-06T13:36:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T18:36:56","slug":"bemidji-man-charged-with-child-torture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-man-charged-with-child-torture\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji Man Charged With Child Torture"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Bemidji Man Charged With Child Torture<\/h2>\n

BEMIDJI, Minn.<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Bemidji man faces five felony charges tied to alleged abuse of his children.<\/p>\n

Thomas Jay Drift Sr., 56, was charged on June 22 in Beltrami County District Court. He received a summons to appear in court.<\/p>\n

Court records listed his first appearance for Monday, July 6.<\/p>\n

The charges include child torture and two third-degree assault counts involving a past pattern of child abuse. He also faces domestic assault by strangulation charge and a child methamphetamine exposure charge.<\/p>\n

Minnesota law<\/a> allows up to 25 years in prison for a child torture conviction. The maximum fine is $35,000.<\/p>\n

Years of Abuse Alleged<\/h2>\n

The criminal complaint says the investigation began on April 30. A county investigator joined a child protection investigation.<\/p>\n

During forensic interviews, Drift\u2019s children described years of physical abuse in Beltrami County.<\/p>\n

They said Drift often struck them with common household objects. Those objects included a frying pan, wooden board, broom, belts, and phone charging cords.<\/p>\n

The children described violence over small household problems. Those issues included a clogged toilet, a missing charger, and a fallen drying rack.<\/p>\n

Strangulation Claims Described<\/h2>\n

One child reported being strangled twice, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

During one incident, she said she could not breathe. She also reported blurred vision and ringing in her ears.<\/p>\n

The child said she believed she was going to die. The complaint says a second strangulation happened in January 2026.<\/p>\n

Drug Exposure Allegations<\/h2>\n

The children also accused Drift of using and selling drugs.<\/p>\n

One child said Drift offered her methamphetamine while he was high. Another statement described greater violence when he was withdrawing from drugs.<\/p>\n

The child said she feared returning home from school. She did not know what condition Drift would be in.<\/p>\n

Message Allegedly Told Children to Stay Quiet<\/h2>\n

Investigators obtained a message that allegedly told the children to stay quiet during therapy.<\/p>\n

The message used the Ojibwe word \u201cbiiZaan.\u201d An Ojibwe speaker told investigators the word means \u201cbe quiet.\u201d<\/p>\n

The complaint says Drift later deleted the Facebook Messenger message. The platform still recorded that the message had been removed.<\/p>\n

The complaint also lists prior domestic assault convictions from 2010 and 2014 in St. Louis County.<\/p>\n

The charges remain allegations. Drift is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

Public case information is available through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>. Beltrami County District Court<\/a> also provides court and calendar information.<\/p>\n

I’m Adrian Cole, reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

\"Bemidji
Bemidji Man Charged With Child Torture<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Bemidji man faces five felony charges after children reported years of abuse, strangulation, and meth exposure, court records allege.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36766,"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":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_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":[1224,770,1122,772,151,10403,93],"class_list":["post-36754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-bemidji","tag-charged","tag-child","tag-crime","tag-man","tag-torture","tag-with","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36754","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=36754"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36754\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36768,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36754\/revisions\/36768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}