Stalker pleads guilty

Man harassed group of girls in North Branch earlier this year.

A man who stalked a group of girls in North Branch earlier this year has pled guilty to felony aggravated harassment and stalking and will be sentenced in January.
Jeffrey David Holmgren, 37, of Chisago City was charged in May after he followed several young girls, both on foot and in his car, around the city of North Branch.
Holmgren drove past the juvenile girls on numerous occasions, staring at them, making eye contact, and frightening them such that they sought refuge in a crowded fast food restaurant until he was apprehended at a gas station parking lot down the street by North Branch Police.
According to Chisago County Attorney Janet Reiter, the defendant has agreed to a 12-month upward departure from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines for a 30-month sentence. Holmgren will serve the first six months of his five-year probationary period in the Chisago County jail.
A gross misdemeanor charge of harassment was dismissed.
The Honorable Douglas G. Swenson will sentence Holmgren in January 2009.