Ex-Oakdale Police Officer Found Guilty of Misconduct for Repeated Calls to Man with Mental Health Issues
A jury has found an ex-Oakdale police officer guilty of misconduct stemming from repeated calls he made to a man who had known mental health issues and was being surveilled because of a felony arrest warrant. The incident, which occurred in 2022, has raised concerns about the handling of individuals with mental health issues by law enforcement.
Charles Anthony Nelson, 44, of Minneapolis, was convicted Wednesday in Washington County District Court of misconduct of a public officer by making false documents, a gross misdemeanor, for omitting the calls in his report of the 2022 incident. Nelson was acquitted of misdemeanor harassing phone calls.
Nelson’s defense attorneys argued that he called the man, who had a history of mental health issues and was armed, to get him out of his house. However, prosecutors contended that Nelson acted with intent to harass the man through the more than 30 calls — noting how the officer didn’t say anything when the man answered — and that they caused him to exit the home with a shotgun, potentially putting himself and others at risk.
Investigation and Trial
According to the criminal complaint, Nelson and his partner Andrew Dickman were dispatched to Greystone Avenue to look for the man, who had a felony arrest warrant for allegedly making threats. The officers were told by command staff “not to engage with the individual, specifically due to his reported mental health issues and potential diagnosis of schizophrenia,” the complaint stated.
Nelson downloaded a phone app that disguises the phone number of incoming calls and began making calls over the next three hours. The man answered several of the calls, but Nelson did not say anything. When the man called Nelson back at 1:25 a.m., the officer denied making the calls.
The man reported the calls to Washington County dispatch and also called the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and asked who was calling him. At one point, he came out with a shotgun, before retreating back into the house. Washington County SWAT was called and eventually arrested him.
Aftermath and Sentencing
Nelson worked the remainder of the weekend and, “despite knowing that his phone calls and actions exacerbated the situation” with the man, he did not disclose that he made them, the complaint said. He omitted the calls in his incident report related to the man’s arrest, “despite the knowledge that the Oakdale Police Department was attempting to determine the veracity of the claims by Victim that he had been getting repeated calls,” the complaint continued.
Nelson was put on paid leave after the Sept. 22, 2022, incident and resigned the following March, according to the city. He’d been an Oakdale officer since Dec. 20, 2006. Jurors reached the verdict after less than two hours of deliberations following a two-day trial before Judge Gregory Galler. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 13.
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