{"id":46737,"date":"2026-09-07T15:49:05","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=46737"},"modified":"2026-09-04T05:53:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:53:29","slug":"bemidji-woman-charged-in-alleged-assault-on-sister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/bemidji-woman-charged-in-alleged-assault-on-sister\/","title":{"rendered":"Bemidji Woman Charged in Alleged Assault on Sister"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Bemidji Woman Charged in Alleged Assault on Sister<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Bemidji (<a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\">trfnews.i234.me<\/a>)<\/strong> \u2014 Lacey Jayne Benais faces a gross misdemeanor domestic assault charge in Beltrami County District Court.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors allege Benais assaulted her sister during an incident in Bemidji on August 19, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint says Benais struck her sister with a phone during a dispute.<\/p>\n<p>The charge carries up to 364 days in jail, a $3,000 fine, or both.<\/p>\n<h2>Police Respond to Assault Report<\/h2>\n<p>Law enforcement responded to a Pine Ridge Avenue address after receiving an assault report.<\/p>\n<p>Officers had encountered Benais earlier that day, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint says authorities believed Benais appeared intoxicated during that earlier contact.<\/p>\n<p>She was left in the care of another person at the residence.<\/p>\n<p>Police later returned after receiving the reported assault call.<\/p>\n<p>A witness told authorities that Benais had punched her sister, identified as N.B.<\/p>\n<p>Investigators then spoke with N.B. about what happened.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint says N.B. had visible bruising and swelling on her face.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"text-align: center; margin: 25px auto;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 100%; height: auto; display: inline-block;\" src=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/BenaisLacey1.jpg\" alt=\"Lacey Jayne Benais mugshot\" \/><figcaption>Lacey Jayne Benais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>N.B. reported that Benais struck her with a phone.<\/p>\n<p>She said the incident happened while she tried to stop Benais from leaving.<\/p>\n<h2>Benais Located Nearby<\/h2>\n<p>Authorities searched the surrounding area after Benais left the residence.<\/p>\n<p>Officers located her about 100 yards away, according to court records.<\/p>\n<p>Benais was reportedly barefoot and carrying her child.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint says officers believed she was highly intoxicated.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities also reported concerns about her ability to safely hold the child.<\/p>\n<p>Benais was arrested and taken to the Beltrami County Jail.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint does not identify any additional charges involving the child.<\/p>\n<h2>Gross Misdemeanor Charge Filed<\/h2>\n<p>Prosecutors charged Benais under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.revisor.mn.gov\/statutes\/cite\/609.2242\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota Statute 609.2242<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The law covers assaults against family or household members.<\/p>\n<p>It includes conduct intended to cause fear of immediate bodily harm or death.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint alleges Benais has a prior qualifying domestic violence-related conviction within ten years.<\/p>\n<p>That allegation raises the current charge to a gross misdemeanor.<\/p>\n<p>The maximum punishment is 364 days in jail and a $3,000 fine.<\/p>\n<p>The case is State of Minnesota v. Lacey Jayne Benais.<\/p>\n<p>The court file number is 04-CR-26-1962 in Minnesota&#8217;s Ninth Judicial District.<\/p>\n<p>Public court information is available through <a href=\"https:\/\/mncourts.gov\/access-case-records\/mcro\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Minnesota Court Records Online<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The complaint contains allegations and does not establish Benais&#8217; guilt.<\/p>\n<p>Benais is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m Adrian Cole reporting for <a href=\"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\">TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bemidji woman Lacey Jayne Benais faces a gross misdemeanor domestic assault charge after prosecutors say she struck her sister during an August incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33492,"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":[24326,1633,14780,17681,1213,2675,20062,24324,16854,24325],"class_list":["post-46737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-04-cr-26-1962","tag-beltrami-county-court","tag-bemidji-crime-news","tag-bemidji-domestic-assault","tag-bemidji-minnesota","tag-domestic-assault-charge","tag-gross-misdemeanor-assault","tag-lacey-jayne-benais","tag-minnesota-domestic-assault","tag-pine-ridge-avenue","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46737","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=46737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46738,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46737\/revisions\/46738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}