{"id":54419,"date":"2026-09-27T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=54419"},"modified":"2026-09-27T07:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T12:36:26","slug":"new-york-mills-man-sentenced-in-meth-sale-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/new-york-mills-man-sentenced-in-meth-sale-case\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Mills Man Sentenced in Meth Sale Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Mills (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>)<\/strong> \u2014 Joshua Steven Bernu, 35, of rural New York Mills has been sentenced in Otter Tail County.<\/p>\n

Bernu was sentenced for felony second-degree drug sales involving methamphetamine. The case involved an August 2025 controlled drug purchase in Otter Tail County.<\/p>\n

A gross misdemeanor child-endangerment charge was dismissed under a plea agreement. That charge alleged drugs were sold while children were inside the home.<\/p>\n

Controlled Meth Purchase<\/h2>\n

Court records say a confidential informant contacted law enforcement on Aug. 4, 2025. The informant reported an arranged purchase of about half an ounce of methamphetamine from Bernu.<\/p>\n

The agreed price was $350, according to court documents. The purchase was planned at Bernu\u2019s rural New York Mills residence near County Highway 76.<\/p>\n

Before the purchase, investigators met with the confidential informant. Court records say the informant identified Bernu from a photograph.<\/p>\n

Investigators also reviewed text messages connected to the planned transaction. The informant received pre-recorded money and a recording device before leaving.<\/p>\n

Authorities tracked the informant\u2019s movements to the residence. Court documents say children could be heard when the informant entered and left.<\/p>\n

The informant later reported the drug transaction happened downstairs. The children reportedly remained upstairs during the transaction.<\/p>\n

Substance Tested Positive<\/h2>\n

Afterward, the informant met again with law enforcement. Investigators collected the suspected methamphetamine and the recording equipment.<\/p>\n

The substance was sent to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension<\/a> for testing. Court records say testing confirmed the presence of methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

The substance weighed just under 14 grams, according to the court filing. Minnesota court information is available through the Otter Tail County District Court<\/a> website.<\/p>\n

58-Month Sentence Stayed<\/h2>\n

Bernu appeared before Otter Tail County District Judge Johnathan Judd on Sept. 14. The judge imposed a 58-month state prison sentence.<\/p>\n

That prison sentence was stayed for five years. Bernu must follow conditions ordered by the court during that period.<\/p>\n

Those conditions include five years of supervised probation. He must also follow state and federal laws and probation instructions.<\/p>\n

Bernu was also sentenced to 12 days in the Otter Tail County Jail. He received credit for two days already served.<\/p>\n

The court allowed the remaining 10 days through electronic home monitoring. Bernu must pay the cost of that monitoring.<\/p>\n

He was also ordered to pay $135 in fines and court fees. Additional information is available through the Otter Tail County<\/a> website.<\/p>\n

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

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

\"New<\/a>
New York Mills Man Sentenced in Meth Sale Case<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A New York Mills man received a stayed 58-month sentence after pleading guilty to felony second-degree meth sales in Otter Tail County.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56683,"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":"","timeOption":"","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":""},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[768,1297,3049,25759,151,1026,4330,4135,865,25758,25760,3958,2548,3048,2220,6416,9944,2078,3959,683],"class_list":["post-54419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-county","tag-drug-sentencing","tag-focus","tag-joshua-s-bernu","tag-man","tag-meth","tag-methamphetamine-sale","tag-mills","tag-minnesota-crime","tag-new-york-mills-mn","tag-new-york-mills-news","tag-otter","tag-otter-tail-county","tag-perham","tag-rural","tag-sale","tag-second-degree-drug-sale","tag-sentenced","tag-tail","tag-york","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54419","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=54419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56684,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54419\/revisions\/56684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}