Polk County Woman Pleads Guilty for Role in Murder Case

FARGO - US Attorney Christopher C. Myers announced that on June 15, 2017, Lorie Ortiz, 32, Crookston, Minn., pled guilty before US District Judge Ralph R. Erickson to a Superseding Indictment charging her with Accessory After the Fact to Murder.

This case came to the attention of law enforcement following the shooting death of Austin Forsman at the Flying J truck stop located in Grand Forks, ND, on March 11, 2016. The murder investigation quickly resulted in the unravelling of a large methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy operating in the Red River Valley, and resulted in thirteen (13) individuals being charged in Federal Court. At the plea hearing, Ortiz admitted that, following the murder, she was involved in destroying or attempting to destroy evidence, namely cell phones, in an effort to assist the participants in the murder from being caught by authorities.

Judge Erickson has set sentencing for Sept. 8, 2017, at the US District Court, Fargo.

This case was investigated by the Department of Homeland Security - Homeland

Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Grand Forks Narcotics

Task Force.

US Attorney Christopher C. Myers is prosecuting this case.