(MINNESOTA) — As of April 14th, Twenty-three people have been charged with violating Minnesota’s preventive stay-at-home order to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
This Executive order was put into place by Gov. Tim Walz in mid-March telling Minnesotans to stay put at home except to buy food or other essential reasons. Violating an emergency order like this one is punishable by a maximum fine of $1000 or 90 days in jail. Many of the cases seen of this misdemeanor charge has been a secondary offense to another crime added by law enforcement.
Among those charged is a suspected drunken driver whose truck got stuck in a Pine City construction zone. He was found hiding in a shed after he fled on foot. Another charged is a Chaska man who allegedly went to a hotel in Roseville to meet a prostitute he met online.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety and Gov. Walz have encouraged education over enforcement of the order.
