A 47-year-old man found with homemade explosives and hundreds of rounds of high-powered ammunition after a traffic stop in Oak Park Heights and who prosecutors say identifies as a “sovereign citizen” was sentenced Wednesday to three years and four months in federal prison.

Wayne Robert Lund, of Stillwater, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis in September to possessing unregistered firearms, one of four charges in a December 2024 indictment. Charges of being a felon in possession of explosives, firearms and ammunition were dismissed as part of a plea deal.

Lund, after his November 2024 arrest, told police the “bomb items were actually used for his rocket hobby and is trying to get his rocket to different heights,” according to a criminal complaint filed in Washington County District Court, where he was initially charged in connection with the case.

According to state and federal court documents, Lund was pulled over on Minnesota 36 shortly after 2 a.m. Nov. 2, 2024, for driving with expired plates and a revoked license. His SUV was also uninsured, and a search of his car before it was towed turned up seven CO2 canisters with wicks and an eight-inch PVC pipe bomb in the trunk.

Officers called the St. Paul Bomb Squad, which identified the CO2 cartridges from photos as suspected “cricket” bombs, an informal term used by law enforcement to describe small, destructive devices built by packing explosives into a CO2 cartridge and adding a fuse.

Wayne Robert Lund (Courtesy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office)

Homes and businesses in the immediate area of the impound lot were evacuated.

Other officers responded to a hotel room in Stillwater that Lund had been renting and evacuated the area around it. They recovered another cricket bomb, more than a hundred empty CO2 cartridges, a jug with explosive black powder, a three-ring binder entitled “List of Pyro Chemicals and Terms,” and documents related to “American Nationals and the Minnesota State Assembly (i.e., sovereign citizen movement),” court documents say.

A locked personal safe in the hotel room contained 804 rounds of ammunition, seven high-capacity rifle magazines filled with nearly 200 rounds of high-velocity .223-caliber ammunition, an airsoft grenade and a small amount of meth.

FBI agents executed a search warrant on a chest freezer belonging to Lund on property in Houlton, Wis., and found another cricket bomb, empty CO2 metal cartridges, black powder precursors and a gallon-sized milk jug half-filled with explosive powder.

In an interview with authorities, Lund admitted to building the cricket bombs in Wisconsin by filling them with one to two grams of explosive material, which he made, and inserting a wick into them, but he said they were rocket engines. He also said he has an interest in explosives as a hobby.

According to FBI bomb technicians, however, the cricket bombs were “destructive devices” that when ignited would “combust and possibly emit shrapnel from the exploding cartridge casing,” the indictment said.

Sentencing

Lund, whose criminal history includes a 2014 threats of violence conviction, faced a guideline sentence between 46 and 57 months in prison at Wednesday’s sentencing.

Lund’s attorney Daniel Gerdts said in a defense sentencing memo that Lund disputes the claim he’s a sovereign citizen, who believe they are not subject to federal, state or local laws.

“He has admitted that his conduct violated the valid laws of this land, and he has accepted responsibility for it,” Gerdts wrote. “In other words, the ‘sovereign citizen’ label does not apply to Mr. Lund — as he has patiently tried to explain to everyone who has tried to pigeon-hole him in that camp.”

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Gerdts added that Lund “is a proud, honorably discharged, military veteran” who has “interacted respectfully with all of the investigators, jailors and court personnel during the pendency of this case.”

Assistant U.S. District Attorney Benjamin Bejar asked U.S. District Judge Michael Davis to hand down the maximum sentence.

“Despite the defendant’s objection to the (presentence report) reference of him as an American National Assembly member endorsing sovereign citizen ideology, the evidence gathered in this case and the defendant’s own words underscore the defendant’s belief and reliance on such ideology,” Bejar wrote in the prosecution’s sentencing memo.

Lund will be on supervised release for two years following his 40-month prison term.

The St. Paul Saints have a new manager.

With Toby Gardenhire joining manager Derek Shelton’s staff as the Twins’ major league field coordinator, Brian Dinkelman was officially named St. Paul’s manager on Wednesday. Dinkelman is the second manager of the Saints since they became affiliated with the Twins in 2021.

Dinkelman, 42, has had a long journey in the Twins organization since being drafted by the team in 2006. He played in 23 major league games during the 11 seasons for the team.

This season will be his sixth as a manager in the organization’s minor league system and 12th overall. He holds a career 443-348 (.560) record as a minor league manager. Before becoming a manager, he worked as a hitting coach in the Twins’ system. He earned the promotion after managing the Double-A Wichita Wind Surge last season.

He will be joined on the Saints’ coaching staff by pitching coaches Carlos Hernandez and Ryan Ricci, hitting coach Shawn Schlecter — a Burnsville native — and hitting and development coach CJ Baker.

Twins make waiver claim

The Twins made a minor move on Wednesday, claiming utlityman Vidal Bruján off waivers from the Atlanta Braves and designating Mickey Gasper for assignment.

Bruján, 27, has played in parts of five major league seasons, debuting in 2021 with the Tampa Bay Rays before going on to play for the Miami Marlins, Chicago Cubs, Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves. He played in 60 games last year for three different teams, hitting .253 with a .616 OPS.

Atlanta Braves’ Vidal Brujan celebrates in the dugout after scoring off a single hit by Ronald Acuna Jr. during the third inning of a baseball game against the Detroit Tigers, Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)

In his five seasons, he’s moved around the field, playing all three outfield positions, as well as second base, third base and shortstop.

Gasper, 30, spent last season up and down between Triple-A and the major leagues, though he did not hit much in limited opportunities with the Twins.

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A Minneapolis man has been charged with attempt to defraud Minnesota Medicaid programs of more than $3 million, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced Wednesday.

Mohamed Abdirashid Omarxeyd, 57, is accused of using his business, Guardian Home Health Services, to bill for home care services that were never provided, according to charges filed Tuesday in Hennepin County by the attorney general’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

The criminal complaint alleges Omarxeyd billed the state for personal care assistant services for clients who were in jail or the hospital.

In one case, Omarxeyd submitted claims reporting three hours of services for more than a month while a client was in the hospital, according to the complaint. Medicaid paid out more than $2,100 for services that could not be provided.

That type of billing was not an “isolated incident,” the attorney general’s office said in court documents. The complaint details several other similar incidents, including one where the company claimed reimbursement for a client who was in jail for a little more than a week in 2022.

The alleged fraud, which took place between 2020 and 2024, involved personal care assistant services, companion care services, homemaking services, respite care services, individualized home supports, and comprehensive community support services, the attorney general’s office said.

Former workers told investigators that they did not provide services to beneficiaries and worked with Omarxeyd to make claims anyway, according to the complaint. Through witnesses and financial records, investigators found that Omarxeyd and his company paid kickbacks to recipients of services.

In all, Omarxeyd, his wife and other companies he owned received a total of more than $2 million from Guardian Home Health Services of the $3 million fraudulently charged, the attorney general alleges.

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“Defrauding programs that provide healthcare to low-income Minnesotans is a truly despicable act,” Ellison said in a news release announcing the charges. “This action is the latest in our ongoing work to root out fraudsters and hold accountable those who steal from Medicaid.”

Court records did not list an attorney for Omarxeyd on Wednesday. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Feb. 3.

Hundreds of St. Paul students walked out of classes and gathered at the state Capitol Wednesday to demand that ICE leave Minnesota.

Organizers said their fellow students are afraid and attendance in schools has dropped with the heavy presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks to students at the state Capitol building in St. Paul on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Imani Cruzen / Pioneer Press)

“We’re out here because students are in fear of ICE coming to our schools,” said Naavi Noir, a sophomore at Central Senior High School. “They’re terrorizing our neighborhoods and they’re putting our safety on the line.”

As of Monday, no ICE or other federal agents have come to district buildings, according to St. Paul Public Schools Superintendent Stacie Stanley. However, there has been suspected ICE activity near schools, she said in a video address to families Monday. That presence has created a sense of fear, students said.

“We all see the absences in our classes of our peers. We all feel the stress,” said Sofía Gonzalez, a senior at Como Park High School. “Teachers, too. They’re figuring out what to do and how to go on with lessons. But none of this is normal, so it’s hard to act like it is.”

Minneapolis public schools were closed for two day last week and activities canceled after a report of armed U.S. Border Patrol officers at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. Minneapolis students returned to in-person classes Monday, with the option to choose remote learning through Feb. 12.

St. Paul public school students who feel unsafe attending class in person due to the immigration enforcement action in the Twin Cities can enroll in the district’s SPPS Online School, according to district officials. The online school enrolls students K-12.

Keith Ellison: ‘We sued them because they are breaking the law’

Attorney General Keith Ellison spoke to the students at Wednesday’s gathering about joint legal action against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and related agencies brought by Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The lawsuit, announced on Monday, alleges violations of the First and Tenth Amendments, the Equal Sovereignty Principle, and the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

“We sued them. We sued them because they are breaking the law,” Ellison said. “They are breaking the law. Now let me tell you, this escalation, this surge which is resulting in not only people being beat up, not only people being thrown to the ground, not only people not going to school, not only people not going to work, but it’s resulted in the death of one of our neighbors, Renee Good. I want you to remember her name. She’s a martyr, she sacrificed.”

Good died trying to help vulnerable members of the community, Ellison said.

‘Fear in our community’

Students who rallied at the Capitol said the immigration enforcement is causing a lot of fear among their fellow students.

“There’s a lot of fear being built in our community and like you’re not able to go to school in the normal environment that you would right now,” said Tesfaamlak Sturm, a senior at Central Senior High School. “So, students of color, students who are members of vulnerable communities are really at risk right now. So, we feel the need to advocate for those students.”

Walking with the students were parents and community members, acting as “marshals” to keep the students safe.

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Some volunteers have similarly stood outside schools while students have left during dismissal time, such as at Central Senior High School or Highland Park Middle School and Highland Park High School, watching in case ICE shows up.

“I don’t think it’s right. I think they’re inflicting a lot of fear and trauma. All they’re causing is harm,” Gonzalez said. “They’re not here to enforce laws. They’re quite literally just enforcing fear. And we want them out.”