A Minnesota man accused of unlawfully going onto property and entering a house in Daviess County on December 14th entered a plea of not guilty on December 15th.
Forty-one-year-old Greg Bryan Ortega of Saint Peter, Minnesota has been charged with felony burglary in the first degree, misdemeanor property damage in the second degree, and an infraction of trespassing in the second degree. A bond motion was heard and overturned. Bond has been denied. The case was continued to December 18th for a bond hearing.
A probable cause statement from Dalton Youtsey with the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office accuses Ortega of opening a gate and driving into a pasture on Highway P without permission, where his vehicle got stuck. He is also accused of entering a house on 302nd Street of Jamesport without permission.
Youtsey says a woman and her children found Ortega in the house, and he initially refused to leave. The woman reportedly found a kitchen drawer pulled out and on the floor, the kickboard on her cabinets to be off and split, and an opened Amazon package belonging to her.
Youtsey notes an odor of intoxicating beverages was coming from Ortega. Ortega allegedly told law enforcement he uses marijuana and had used methamphetamine in the past. He claimed to be driving to Texas, but his location was not on the route to Texas.
The probable cause statement indicates Ortega’s criminal record includes 2010 convictions by the Drug Enforcement Administration for conspiracy to distribute 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana and conspiracy of marijuana of a foreign origin. His record also shows convictions in Minnesota including for possession of a controlled substance in 2002, careless driving in 2008, giving a police officer a false name in 2008, obstructing a police officer in 2008, disorderly conduct in 2008, theft in 2016, a domestic disturbance in 2018, and trespassing in 2019.
