A 24-year-old St. Paul man who sold fentanyl-laced pills to a friend who then overdosed and died in his Lake Elmo home has been sentenced to a year in jail and seven years of supervised probation.

Dane William Okerstrom pleaded guilty to third-degree murder in April for the death of Vaughn Hugo Wolf on Jan. 7, 2023. The 19-year-old bought two “M30” pills from Okerstrom the night before and died of a fentanyl overdose.

Dane William Okerstrom (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)

Washington County District Judge Siv Mjanger followed terms of a plea agreement on Monday, which included up to one year in jail and a stayed seven-year presumptive prison sentence. In granting the downward departure from state sentencing guidelines, Mjanger cited Okerstrom’s remorsefulness; amenability to probation and chemical dependency treatment; and that Wolf’s family was in agreement with the departure.

Assistant Washington County Attorney Thomas Frenette successfully argued straight jail time for Okerstrom. “I don’t think that this is a particular case that warrants work release,” he said. “This is a serious offense, and honestly, it was an avoidable offense.”

While noting Okerstrom has successfully completed nearly a year of programming with Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge, Frenette said “this will be the most difficult time for the defendant” in his road to recovery.

Mjanger agreed, saying: “You have a lease on life here. You have an opportunity to not end up like Vaughn. I agree with Mr. Frenette that when our hearing is done today and nobody’s watching … it’s going to be the most difficult time of your life.”

Mjanger added, “It doesn’t make me feel good to put you in jail for a year. But I have a family here who lost their son, and there has to be a sanction. There has to be some kind of punishment that says you cannot do things in this world that take other people’s lives.”

Arrested the same day

According to the criminal complaint, deputies were called to the Lake Elmo home around 1 p.m. Jan. 7 on a report of an unconscious male and found Wolf’s father doing chest compressions on him. Deputies administered a dose of Narcan on Wolf, who did not regain consciousness.

Law enforcement learned what Wolf did the night before. After finishing his shift as a Davanni’s delivery driver, he worked out at the Planet Fitness in Roseville. Just before 10 p.m., he went on Snapchat and arranged to buy two “perks” — or Percocets — from “Dane.”

Wolf went to a friend’s house, where Wolf and another friend “sniffed” the drug. Wolf got home just after midnight.

Deputies found Wolf’s cellphone on a nightstand next to his bed and messages showed the drug transaction with “Dane” happened at the Taco Bell on Larpenteur Avenue in St. Paul. Law enforcement arranged a transaction with Okerstrom at the Taco Bell on Jan. 7 and arrested him. He had a bottle with 50 blue M30 pills.

A search of Okerstrom’s bedroom turned up a 9mm pistol; 13 more M30 pills; 2½ grams of Ketamine in a glass vile; nearly 20½ grams of THC concentrate; and fentanyl test strips.

Okerstrom’s cellphone showed multiple conversations relating to drug transactions between him and Wolf dating back to May 2022, the complaint says.

‘This is your second chance’

Wolf’s family described him in court as someone who was shy, gifted, witty and loved. “And he knew what he wanted, and he wanted to do something great with life,” his brother Ethan Wolf said.

Despite his struggles with addiction, “he was getting better, becoming a man and learning from his failures before his life started,” his brother said.

Regardless of the sentence, he told Okerstrom, “this is your second chance my brother never got.”

Okerstrom told the court that recovering from addiction and removing himself from a “destructive lifestyle” is something that he “should have done long ago.”

“I’m able to look my family and friends in the face now, and tell them that I’m making choices that contribute to a positive impact in the community and to myself,” he continued. “My only regret is that it came at the cost of a dear friend.”

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CHICAGO — These days, you can’t keep the Twins down for too long.

And after the Twins were mostly quieted in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader against the White Sox — and for the first five innings of the second game — they finally broke through in the sixth.

From there, they were able to salvage the second game of the doubleheader, beating the White Sox 3-2, after falling 3-1 in the first game at Guaranteed Rate Field. The Twins, who won the first game of the series 8-6 on Monday, have now won six straight series.

Byron Buxton was largely responsible for helping manufacture the go-ahead run in the seventh inning, turning on the jets on a softly hit ball to shallow right field and speeding into second base.

He then scored on a Ryan Jeffers single, putting the Twins on top for the first time all day.

That came just an inning after Brooks Lee and Carlos Correa hit back-to-back home runs, pulling the Twins back even. Lee’s home run extended the Twins’ streak to 28 consecutive games with a home run, which tied the 2023 Atlanta Braves for second on the all-time list. Only the 2019 Yankees, who homered in 31 straight games, have a longer streak.

Matt Wallner was the man responsible for extending the streak in the first game, driving in the Twins’ only run in the loss. His seventh-inning home run was his second since returning from Triple-A on Sunday.

The Twins could do little else against White Sox pitching in that game despite loading the bases against Erick Fedde and forcing him to throw 24 pitches to the first three batters to start the day.

Fedde then retired the next three batters and followed it up with four more scoreless innings.

The White Sox broke through off starter Bailey Ober in the fifth inning for a run after he began the game with four hitless innings.  Luis Robert Jr. added another pair in the sixth with a two-run shot to center.

“(I) felt good, felt like I was executing, putting guys away early and making them swing and getting weak contact,” Ober said. “Outside the first hitter (a walk). Felt good, just have to finish better late in the game.”

While the Twins split the doubleheader, both Ober and Pablo López, who started the second game, did enough to keep the Twins competitive.

López gave up a run in the second inning and a solo home run to light-hitting catcher Martín Maldonado in the third and took a no-decision as the Twins surged ahead after his departure.

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ISSAQUAH, Wash. — Costco bargain hunters are going to have to pay an additional $5 to $10 annually as the popular warehouse chain prepares to raise its membership fees for the first time in seven years.

The Issaquah, Washington, company disclosed the forthcoming 8% increase in the fee to gain entry into its more than 700 warehouses in the U.S. and Canada as part of a monthly sales report Wednesday.

The new fees, set to take effect Sept. 1, will boost the price of Costco’s basic Gold Star membership from $60 to $65 annually, while the cost for the premium Executive membership will rise from $120 to $130. The annual fee had remained the same since 2017, despite several years of unusually high inflation rates that finally have been cooling down in recent months.

With inflationary pressures squeezing household budgets, Costco’s commitment to offering low prices on a wide range of food and other merchandise has helped make its warehouse an even more popular shopping destination. That phenomenon, in turn, has help boost its profits, making its stock a hot commodity among investors. Costco’s shares have nearly doubled during the last 18 months, increasing the company’s market value by about $180 billion during that span.

Costco’s shares rose by more than 2% after news of the fee increase and its latest sales gains came out. If the stock behaves similarly in Thursday’s regular trading session, the shares will hit a new peak.

Besides the fee increase, Costco disclosed its sales for the five-week period ending July 7 rose by 7% from the same time last year to $24.48 billion.

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