A former Metro Gang Strike Force supervisor has resigned from the Minneapolis Police Department amid reports he is a key target of an FBI investigation.
Randall Levi Olson reportedly is being investigated for allegedly using strike force equipment to stalk a former girlfriend.
Olson, 43, previously was the subject of a Minneapolis police internal affairs investigation involving the woman, who said he fathered her child.
Olson’s name emerged during the FBI probe into allegations of misconduct and possible criminal acts by members of the now-defunct metro gang unit, according to law enforcement sources.
According to law enforcement sources, Minneapolis police Lt. Jim Heimerl, the strike force’s former assistant commander, also is under federal and internal police investigation.
Heimerl, who served as the unit’s interim commander for several months after its lead-er retired in October, allegedly improperly sold furniture seized by the unit to his daughter, the sources said.
Olson was one of two Minneapolis police sergeant supervisors assigned to the task force. Their roles were to coordinate, supervise and, on occasion, help lead gang suppression and interdiction probes.
Some Minneapolis officers whom Olson supervised also are under FBI investigation, according to law enforcement sources.
Olson’s resignation Thursday could be a strategic move as the FBI steps up its investigation. Minneapolis police can no longer force him to testify in an internal probe about anything related to the department or his actions.
But that doesn’t protect him from a federal investigation.
The gang strike force was disbanded after the Minnesota legislative auditor’s office reviewed the multi-jurisdictional unit and criticized it in May for failing to account for more than $18,000 in seized cash and 14 confiscated cars.
Officers reportedly shredded documents in the strike force’s New Brighton office hours after the report was released. The FBI soon began its investigation.
An independent review of the unit by a former federal prosecutor and a retired FBI agent was released Aug. 20. It found that perhaps 10 to 12 strike force employees engaged in misconduct and some in criminal acts by taking seized goods home for their own use and seizing cash from people never linked to criminal activity.
The review noted potential abuse of the highly regulated National Criminal Information Center database. “The panel heard from a number of witnesses who alleged that the NCIC system was accessed by strike force employees for non-governmental purposes,” the report said. “If true, this is a direct violation of the terms of use of the NCIC database.”
Olson is under investigation for improperly using the database in connection with the harassment case, law enforcement sources say.
Olson did not return a call seeking comment, and his attorney couldn’t be reached.
Heimerl also could not be located for comment.
On Jan. 20, 10 days before Sarah Jean Mann’s baby was born, she applied for a harassment restraining order against Olson.
Mann, 34, is a part-time Minneapolis Park Police agent. In the petition and affidavit for the restraining order, she wrote that Olson “is the father of my unborn child.”
Olson “followed, pursued or stalked” Mann through “means of GPS tracking system by cell phone signal (thru work), for months of Nov., Dec. 2008,” Mann wrote in the affidavit. She also suspected him of placing bugs or tracking devices in her home and car.
Olson was assigned to the gang strike force in February 2008 and worked there until Minneapolis police transferred him out of the task force last April, according to his personnel file.
Mann wrote that Olson subpoenaed her “phone records gaining my personal phone numbers” around Jan. 14.
On Jan. 18, Mann wrote in the affidavit that Olson, who is married, sent her a text message: “Not a threat at all. Just a promise that if you come w/in 10 miles of my family, I will get a restraining order.” Also that day, Olson threatened to “bring the rath (sic) of God upon me,” she wrote in the affidavit.
Olson told Mann on Jan. 18 that he knew several judges and attorneys “and that he can not be touched,” she wrote in the affidavit. She wrote he claimed “entrapment and extortion because I did not have abortion.”
Olson and Mann signed a mutual restraining order Feb. 10, court records show. “Both parties agree to no findings but … there will be no contact between either,” the harassment court mediated settlement agreement said. The order is in effect for one year.
Mann declined to comment Friday. Olson’s wife, 46, filed for divorce March 23, according to court records.
Minneapolis police spokes-man Sgt. Jesse Garcia ack-nowledged police had opened an internal affairs investigation into Olson, but said he couldn’t discuss details.
On Aug. 17, Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan put Olson on paid leave “pending a decision on your employment status.” Olson’s resignation ended the internal affairs investigation, Garcia said. Olson’s discipline record with the department wasn’t available Friday. He has several commendations in his file.
Heimerl, whose name also has surfaced in the federal probe, joined the Minneapolis department in 1970, according to his personnel record. He was assigned to the gang unit in December 2006 and stayed there until it was shut.
He has a number of commendations in his file, including a July 2008 letter from St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington, commending him for helping St. Paul in 2006 with “an increase in shootings, aggravated assaults and the recovery of guns and bulletproof vests from gang members,” the letter said.
Heimerl donated “hundreds of hours on his own time” for the Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run, according to a recommendation for a department award.
The independent review released Aug. 20 didn’t identify strike force employees suspected of wrongdoing.
Harrington said he will meet next week with former federal prosecutor Andy Luger, who co-chaired the review panel, and expects Luger will provide the names of the officers implicated.
The Minneapolis Police Department’s head of internal affairs also will meet with Luger next week to learn the names, according to Minneapolis police.
Staff writer Maricella Miranda contributed to this report.
