{"id":44248,"date":"2026-08-20T16:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=44248"},"modified":"2026-08-15T22:28:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T03:28:00","slug":"thief-river-falls-man-faces-5-charges-after-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/thief-river-falls-man-faces-5-charges-after-dispute\/","title":{"rendered":"Thief River Falls: Man Faces 5 Charges After Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Thief River Falls: Man Faces 5 Charges After Dispute<\/h2>\n

Thief River Falls<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A North Carolina man faces five gross misdemeanor charges following an August 1 domestic dispute.<\/p>\n

Marqus Antonio Middleton, 38, is charged with two counts of domestic assault.<\/p>\n

He also faces interference with an emergency call, third-degree DWI, and fourth-degree assault on an officer.<\/p>\n

Domestic Dispute Reported At Campground<\/h2>\n

Dispatch received a call shortly before 1 a.m. from Middleton’s wife, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

She had gone to a campground near Hartz Park to check on Middleton and their dogs.<\/p>\n

The woman said an argument began during the visit.<\/p>\n

She alleged Middleton pushed her onto a bed and held her wrists down.<\/p>\n

She also said he placed a knee on her chest.<\/p>\n

The woman reported that Middleton threatened to kill her if she left.<\/p>\n

She tried to call 911 but said Middleton took her cellphone.<\/p>\n

\"Marqus
Marqus Antonio Middleton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She eventually pushed him away, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Middleton then allegedly left with both phones and other belongings.<\/p>\n

The woman told officers that Middleton had been drinking throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Middleton Denies Assault<\/h2>\n

Officers later found Middleton near the bus garage by the dam.<\/p>\n

Middleton denied putting his hands on his wife.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged driving away from the campground, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Officers reported smelling alcohol and seeing bloodshot, watery eyes.<\/p>\n

Middleton refused standard field sobriety testing, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Police later found the woman’s cellphone in a nearby dumpster.<\/p>\n

She identified the recovered phone as hers.<\/p>\n

Officer Assault Alleged At Jail<\/h2>\n

At the Pennington County Jail, Middleton allegedly made statements indicating he had been drinking.<\/p>\n

Investigators obtained a warrant for a blood or urine sample.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors say Middleton became aggressive while the warrant was being explained.<\/p>\n

He allegedly slapped an officer’s hand and was then restrained.<\/p>\n

The DWI count alleges refusal to submit to chemical testing.<\/p>\n

Each filed charge carries up to 364 days in jail and a $3,000 fine.<\/p>\n

The domestic assault charges cite a prior qualifying domestic violence-related conviction.<\/p>\n

The case is filed as Pennington County court file 57-CR-26-557.<\/p>\n

Readers can review Minnesota Statute 609.2242<\/a> regarding domestic assault.<\/p>\n

DWI laws are available under Minnesota Statute 169A.26<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Additional court information is available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.<\/p>\n

Middleton is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.<\/p>\n

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

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A North Carolina man faces five charges after prosecutors say a Thief River Falls domestic dispute led to DWI, emergency-call and officer assault allegations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41913,"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":[2158,2890,13859,23230,955,1178,14674,873],"class_list":["post-44248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-domestic-assault","tag-dwi-refusal","tag-emergency-call-interference","tag-marqus-antonio-middleton","tag-minnesota-crime-news","tag-officer-assault","tag-pennington-county-court","tag-thief-river-falls-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44248","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=44248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44249,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44248\/revisions\/44249"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}