SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Indictments on five different cases involving six defendants all announced by South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley’s office in one news release Wednesday are giving the public a clearer picture of what’s happening behind prison walls in the state.
Current Department of Corrections inmate Tyler Larvie is accused of conspiring with former DOC employee Madyson Bixby and Merced Patlan of Sioux Falls to start a car fire outside the penitentiary in January. Larvie also faces nine counts of having synthetic cannabis in prison.
Current DOC inmate Seth Peplinski is accused of assaulting someone in prison. Another inmate, Kelly Irby, is accused of possessing a blade. Former DOC employee Alexis Hiller faces three drug charges including possessing a synthetic opioid with intent to deliver it to an inmate.
Santella: Why were all these indictments announced together in the format we saw this week given that some of the cases are not at all linked?
“A variety of reasons,” Jackley said Friday. “One is, certainly of time. We will have a period in which we can utilize a grand jury. We will, from time to time, pick a grand jury that we’ll bring certain types of cases in front of. In this instance it made sense; we felt we were at a point in the investigations to move forward,”
Jackley says none of the charges have anything to do with disturbances at the penitentiary in Sioux Falls in March or at the Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield in July.
“These are separate,” Jackley said. “These involve an arson with a vehicle outside of the prison, they involve drug issues, and they involve weapons for purposes of assault, specifically a blade.”
The KELOLAND newsroom doesn’t typically get news releases like the one received Wednesday.
Santella: It just strikes me as sort of odd to get a release about a charged possession of a weapon by an inmate. Or am I wrong there?
“I think that’s fair,” Jackley said. “Certainly our office will issue various releases that we want to make sure the public is aware of what law enforcement is doing, what investigations are happening, and where some issues and danger rest.”
