ND attorney general seeks independent review of drug task force accused of bullying NDSCS student found dead in Red River

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is seeking an independent review of the drug task force accused of bullying a North Dakota State College of Science student whose body was found in the Red River in June. Stenehjem has asked the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation to lead an outside review of SEMCA, the Southeast Multi-County Agency Narcotics Task Force. Tammy Sadek has said that SEMCA pressured her son, Andrew Sadek, to work for the agency as an informant after he was caught selling small amounts of marijuana in April 2013. Andrew Sadek went missing in May and his body was discovered the next month. The Richland County sheriff wants a review of SEMCA in light of the Sadek case and the president of NDSCS wants a Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent added to the task force, Stenehjem said. In response to those requests, Stenehjem said a review was appropriate. “It just seemed to be kind of logical that we do an operational review of the whole thing before I decided to station a BCI agent,” he said by phone Friday. He decided “that to make sure that everything was unbiased and independent, that we’d ask an agent from the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation to head up the review.” Stenehjem said the Sadek case was the main factor behind the review. “There was a lot of, of course, public discussion about that case,” he said, “so that was, I think, the impetus for all of this.” Stenehjem said he did not know when specifically the review would start or how long it would take.
Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem is seeking an independent review of the drug task force accused of bullying a North Dakota State College of Science student whose body was found in the Red River in June.Stenehjem has asked the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation to lead an outside review of SEMCA, the Southeast Multi-County Agency Narcotics Task Force.Tammy Sadek has said that SEMCA pressured her son, Andrew Sadek, to work for the agency as an informant after he was caught selling small amounts of marijuana in April 2013.Andrew Sadek went missing in May and his body was discovered the next month.The Richland County sheriff wants a review of SEMCA in light of the Sadek case and the president of NDSCS wants a Bureau of Criminal Investigation agent added to the task force, Stenehjem said.In response to those requests, Stenehjem said a review was appropriate.“It just seemed to be kind of logical that we do an operational review of the whole thing before I decided to station a BCI agent,” he said by phone Friday. He decided “that to make sure that everything was unbiased and independent, that we’d ask an agent from the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation to head up the review.”Stenehjem said the Sadek case was the main factor behind the review.“There was a lot of, of course, public discussion about that case,” he said, “so that was, I think, the impetus for all of this.”Stenehjem said he did not know when specifically the review would start or how long it would take.