{"id":41680,"date":"2026-08-05T11:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T16:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=41680"},"modified":"2026-08-02T13:32:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T18:32:27","slug":"crookston-school-bus-case-leads-to-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/crookston-school-bus-case-leads-to-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Crookston School Bus Case Leads to Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

CROOKSTON<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Grand Forks woman faces a gross misdemeanor charge in Polk County.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors accuse Samantha Rose Stern of passing a stopped school bus while a child was outside.<\/p>\n

The alleged violation happened around 3:03 p.m.along Elm Street in Crookston.<\/p>\n

Complaint Describes Stop-Arm Violation<\/h2>\n

According to the criminal complaint, the bus stopped and displayed flashing red lights.<\/p>\n

Its stop-signal arm was also fully extended as students began leaving the bus.<\/p>\n

The complaint says a black Chrysler Town and Country van then passed without stopping.<\/p>\n

The final student was still leaving the bus when the van went past, prosecutors allege.<\/p>\n

Investigators identified the van as a vehicle used by Polk County Social Services.<\/p>\n

School district staff provided video and other materials during the investigation.<\/p>\n

Video and Vehicle Logs Reviewed<\/h2>\n

Investigators later obtained a search warrant for government center video and vehicle use logs.<\/p>\n

The complaint says video showed Stern entering the van shortly before 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

It also showed her leaving the van shortly after 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

Vehicle records reportedly listed a reservation under Samantha S.<\/p>\n

The reservation ran from 1 p.m. until about 3:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

Stern later spoke with investigators about the incident.<\/p>\n

She reportedly said she was driving but did not remember passing the bus.<\/p>\n

She also said she often traveled that route toward the Care and Share and library.<\/p>\n

Charge Carries Possible Jail and Fine<\/h2>\n

Stern is charged under Minnesota Statute 169.444<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charge is a gross misdemeanor because a child was allegedly outside the bus.<\/p>\n

A conviction could bring up to 364 days in jail and a fine of up to $3,000.<\/p>\n

The case is filed as 60-CR-26-907 in Minnesota\u2019s Ninth Judicial District.<\/p>\n

Public case information may be available through Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A criminal complaint contains allegations. Stern is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

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

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

\"Crookston
Crookston School Bus Case Leads to Charge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Grand Forks woman faces a gross misdemeanor charge after prosecutors say she passed a stopped school bus while a child was outside in Crookston.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41681,"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":"","_mastodon_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":[14737,22207,14673,6265,22208,6539],"class_list":["post-41680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-crookston-news","tag-crookston-school-bus-violation","tag-minnesota-gross-misdemeanor","tag-polk-county-court","tag-samantha-rose-stern","tag-school-bus-stop-arm","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41680","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=41680"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41683,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41680\/revisions\/41683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}