{"id":38838,"date":"2026-07-23T15:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T20:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=38838"},"modified":"2026-07-19T20:26:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T01:26:51","slug":"middle-river-woman-charged-over-custody-order-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/middle-river-woman-charged-over-custody-order-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Middle River Woman Charged Over Custody Order Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Middle River Woman Charged Over Custody Order Dispute<\/h2>\n

Marshall County<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Middle River woman is facing a felony charge after authorities say she did not follow a court-ordered child visitation exchange.<\/p>\n

Samantha Jo Johnson, 39, of Middle River, Minnesota, has been charged in Marshall County District Court with depriving custody or parental rights in violation of a court order.<\/p>\n

The charge is based on an alleged incident that happened on June 12, 2026. The case was filed in the Minnesota District Court system<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Court Order Dispute<\/h2>\n

According to the criminal complaint, Johnson was expected to bring the children to a scheduled exchange location in Middle River.<\/p>\n

The children\u2019s father, Joshua Wergin, contacted authorities after the exchange did not happen as planned.<\/p>\n

Wergin told authorities he was supposed to pick up the children at noon. He said he had traveled several hours for the court-ordered visitation.<\/p>\n

Johnson told authorities she did not believe the children should go with their father. She said she had concerns about their safety.<\/p>\n

The complaint states Johnson believed previous custody documents supported her position.<\/p>\n

Authorities Review Court Documents<\/h2>\n

Authorities later reviewed court documents provided by both sides.<\/p>\n

The complaint states the court order gave Wergin summer parenting time from June through August.<\/p>\n

The order reportedly allowed Johnson one extended weekend during that period.<\/p>\n

Investigators told Johnson that failing to follow the order could result in a violation.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, Johnson acknowledged the order but said she would not release the children.<\/p>\n

Children Interviewed During Investigation<\/h2>\n

The complaint states that authorities later spoke with the children.<\/p>\n

One child reportedly said they did not want to go with their father.<\/p>\n

The child made allegations of past verbal and physical abuse.<\/p>\n

Another child reportedly said they did not want to go but did not report physical contact.<\/p>\n

Authorities stated they did not force the children to leave that day.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Johnson remained in violation of the court order because the exchange did not occur.<\/p>\n

Felony Charge Filed<\/h2>\n

Johnson faces one felony count of depriving custody or parental rights in violation of a court order.<\/p>\n

The charge references Minnesota Statute 609.26.<\/p>\n

If convicted, the charge carries a possible sentence of up to two years in prison, a fine of up to $4,000, or both.<\/p>\n

All charges are allegations. Johnson is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

For more Minnesota court information, visit the Minnesota Judicial Branch website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

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

\"Middle
Middle River Woman Charged Over Custody Order Dispute<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Middle River woman Samantha Johnson faces a felony charge after a reported custody dispute involving a court ordered summer visitation exchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38839,"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":"","_bluesky_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":[21394,20091,14088,5464,6716,15982,21393],"class_list":["post-38838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-child-visitation","tag-court-order-violation","tag-custody-dispute","tag-marshall-county","tag-middle-river-mn","tag-minnesota-felony-charge","tag-samantha-johnson","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38838","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=38838"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38840,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38838\/revisions\/38840"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}