Marshall County Sheriff Jason Boman refuses to produce basic incident reports regarding the whereabouts and activities of his deputies regarding a child endangerment – public safety issue - that involved an extremely intoxicated man.

Boman’s refusal to produce documentation of the event has created suspicion about his Department, and is drawing attention, because the man, Shawn Kostrzewski, Stephen, is the brother-in-law of the Pennington County Sheriff.

Kostrzewski is also an employee of the Marshall County Highway Department.

The case involves obstruction of justice and witness intimidation by Pennington County Sheriff Ray Kuznia's wife, Jodi Kuznia.

Jodi Kuznia is Shawn Kostrzewski's sister.

The bizarre case involves facts and circumstnaces that are sure to create serious problems for both the Marshall County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) and Pennington County Sheriff's Office (PCSO).

It is known that events that began on April 23, 2015, spurred significant activity by Marshall County law enforcement regarding Kostrzewski. It is known a deputy located a minor child that had been abandoned, and fled the home for another home. It also known that at one point the MCSO could not locate two adults and another small child.

Write Into Action has learned there are extenuating facts and circumstances that show a child's welfare has been sacrificed to cover up for the illegal activities of friends and relatives in law enforcement.

Boman’s instinct to deviate from procedure has placed a dark cloud above the Marshall County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), which was recently thrust into the media spotlight regarding a murder that took place in rural Viking.

Being known for cover-ups is historically bad for prosecutions on high profile cases, which makes Boman's recent course of decision making curious.

In addition to tainting the credibility of MCSO officers as witnesses, the activities of the MCSO could create insurance liability issues for Marshall County because Kostrzewski, who according to his ex-wife, Amy Budeau, as well as extensive evidence, is a severe alcoholic, and works with heavy machinery for the County.

Even without the incident reports, which haven been requested by Budeau, the entire incident is well documented via text messages, audio recordings, and witnesses.

Evidence further shows that as a cover-up began, Jodi Kuznia, the wife of Pennington County Sheriff Ray Kuznia, and sister of Shawn Kostrzewski, telephoned a woman that took in Kostrzewski’s traumatized teenager daughter, and began leaning on the caregiver to keep her mouth shut.

Audio and text message evidence from the April 23 incident, captured by Kostrzewski’s teenage daughter, demonstrate beyond all doubt that he was extremely intoxicated and then left in a motor vehicle.

The April 23 incident began in the home of Shawn and Tara Kostrzewski where a common arguement was taking place regarding Shawn Kostrzewski's alcoholism.

Audio captures Shawn Kostrzewski, obviously innebriated, babbling and arguing with Tara Kostrzewski.

Photos taken by Shawn Kostrzewski's teenage daughter show empty beer cans strewn about.

It is noteworthy there is another, even younger child, in the home.

Text messages between Shawn Kostrzewski and his daughter show the child is frightened. He says to her in a text, "Bye Bye". The young girl then continuously tries to make contact with hr father but he won't reply.

Shawn Kostrzewski then left in a motor vehicle.

Both the MCSO and PCSO know that Shawn Kostrzewski posed a threat to every single person on the highway.

Boman possesses all the evidence.

Budeau said she contacted Boman and he became defensive.

Shawn Kostrzewski remained gone for days.

Budeau said her teenage daughter has subsequently been taken into a room, cult style, surrounded by adults, who told her she is "lying".

They made her come home and everybody was sitting around the living room "eating ice cream" as if everything was completely normal, Budeau said,

Budeau says Shawn Kostrzewski is an admitted alcoholic and frequently urinates on himself. She said there are photos of patches of carpet with large pee rings. She said he must sleep alone because he so frequently urinates on himself nobody can sleep near him.

One audio of the night in question captures Shawn Kostrzewski babbling and arguing with Tara Kostrzewski about a mess he made in the bathroom.

Boman’s refusal to produce records regarding the event creates the clear impression the MCSO does not want to create any paper trail regarding Shawn Kostrzewski’s activities.

Boman and Kuznia's 'Jim Jones' culture for Marshall and Pennington County youth is not acceptable by normal health standards and further investigation by Write Into Action is forthcoming.

Write Into Action is presently investigating the handling of this entire matter by Marshall County Social Services.

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