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Hearing for WG police chief postponed

Zeug charged with hiring or agreeing to hire a minor for prostitution

REDWOOD FALLS — The court hearing for the Walnut Grove police chief Michael Robert Zeug, 45, which was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon was postponed, according to the Redwood County Court Administrator’s office.

Zeug, who is currently suspended from his police chief duties, was to appear before Watonwan County Judge Greg Anderson in an omnibus hearing via ITV (interactive television) from the Redwood County courthouse. The lawyers in the case will be preparing briefs that will be due by Sept. 25 in lieu of the hearing Tuesday, the court administrator said.

Court records said Zeug was charged with hiring or agreeing to hire a minor for prostitution, a felony offense.

The Walnut Grove police chief was one of three area men arrested in June after a sting allegedly caught them trying to solicit sex with minors online.

The Redwood County Attorney’s Office said the other two were Scott Glenn Berglund, 41, of Montevideo; and Javier Bulmaro Turrubiartes, 40, of Renville.

All three were arrested after a covert operation conducted by the BLR Drug Task Force and the Washington County Human Trafficking Task Force.

Zeug is chief of the Walnut Grove Police.

In the covert operation, law enforcement officers posted online advertisements on backpage.com and craigslist.org. The two sites are commonly used by individuals trying to engage in sex trafficking and prostitution, said Redwood County Attorney Steven Collins.

“The goal of the operation is to identify those individuals who want to solicit minors for sex,” Collins said. “This operation was a first for Redwood County.”

Each of the men arrested as a result of the sting allegedly tried to solicit sex with individuals they believed to be teenage girls younger than 18, the Redwood County Attorney’s Office said.

All three men made their first appearances in Redwood County District Court in June.

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