EXCLUSIVE: Facing prison, Minnesota ex-cop tells her side of the story

Laci Silgjord spoke with Liz Collin on her podcast about the peculiar series of events that unfolded from her time serving the Cloquet police department and the Army National Guard—to now facing 20 years in prison.

Collin explained that she wanted to tell Laci’s story for quite some time, after hearing from so many of her friends and supporters.

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Lacy has since been found guilty of “attempted theft by swindle” and facing 20 years in prison—even though she never took a dime.

As Laci explained, the events unfolded after she befriended an older lady named Joan Arney.

Meeting Joan Arney

Silgjord met Joan Arney through her time working as a police officer in Cloquet. 

“I had a few calls with her here and there, but mostly our interactions were involving her cat. Joan had a Siamese cat, which is the same as what I had.  We had a lot of community members that would kind of complain about the cat wandering throughout their neighborhood off the leash. Anytime I’d see him out, you know, I’d stop by and say, Joan, you know Sammy’s out again,” Silgjord joked. 

“She was always just easy to talk to, hearing her story about her life and her time being a nurse outside of Duluth—just kind of learning about her life. She was telling me about how she had left her abusive husband and she was living alone. So, I just wanted to make sure she was doing ok and would check in on her from time to time,” Silgjord added.

They were friends for months when Joan suffered a stroke in August of 2020. 

“My sergeant called me and he said, Hey, I know you’re not working right now, but we’re trying to get ahold of your friend Joan and we stopped at her house. She’s not answering the door, have you talked to her? I said no, I haven’t,” Silgjord recalled. 

She then raced over to Arney’s home to help. 

“It was just a really traumatic experience for me to see her like that in such a state of agony. And when she laid there, she just reached for me and she just said, help me, help me. I literally laid on the floor with her until the ambulance arrived and covered her with a blanket and did everything I could to just keep her calm in that moment,” she said. 

Silgjord visited Arney a few times in the hospital to check in on her. 

“She’s just just a sweet, sassy lady that just melts my heart just thinking about her,” she said. 

Silgjord become Joan Arney’s guardian

While Joan was in the hospital, Silgjord was asked to be her guardian.

“I had actually received a phone call from the social worker at the hospital. And they had told me that Joan was in need of a guardian and that she had no family, no friends, and that they were reaching out to me because they had no one else to turn to. So they actually asked if I would be willing to be her guardian.”

Silgjord said she was surprised and somewhat reluctant.  “I have never been a guardian. I honestly didn’t really even know much about it. They basically explained to me that if I was not willing to be Joan’s guardian, that they would have to find some stranger who would be able to step into that role. I just have always lived for service and helping people and just willing to just do whatever I can to make sure that people are taken care of. So I agreed to do it,” Silgjord said. 

She also explained to Collin how the hospital provided attorneys—and submitted all the paperwork: “They did everything for it and they petitioned the courts for me to be Joan’s guardian, which I did accept to do and take on that responsibility.”

Sadly, Joan passed away on October 28th, 2020. Soon afterward, Silgjord said she learned about Joan’s estranged husband.

Joan Arney passed away 

“When I met Joan, everything from the very beginning was that she had an ex-husband. She said that she divorced her husband. She’s been living alone for about eight years. She said she had nothing to do with him,” Silgjord explained.

She also told Collin that after Joan passed away, she “learned through the actual medical records that Joan had extensive documentation for domestic violence with the estranged husband” and that “he had threatened her with a firearm at one point.”

Put on leave by the Cloquet Police Department 

Silgjord pointed out that her police chief seemed to be applauding her work with Joan. E-mails reviewed by Alpha News show that the chief and other officers praised her work with the elderly woman. 

“I had received several emails from my partners, my police chief, commending me for what I did for Joan and being there for her and taking care of her when nobody else would. I even had emails from nurses at the hospital who had seen me interact with Joan and had sent emails to my police department commending me for my care and empathy for her and taking good care of her during the time that she was within the St. Luke’s Hospital,” Silgjord told Collin.

However, Silgjord said that when Silgjord filed a grievance against her police chief over another matter, all of that changed.

About the same time—just after Joan passed away—Silgjord said that Joan’s estranged husband came forward and how the funeral home actually called her regarding Joan’s husband.

That’s when Silgjord learned that Joan and her husband were actually still married. Silgjord explained how Joan believed she had a legal separation: “They both had attorneys. They separated property and assets and they lived separate. But the divorce was never finalized at the time of her passing.” 

“So when I received that call I met with Joan’s estranged husband. And in that time, he was very demanding that I just hand over the keys to Joan’s house. At that time, I was listed as her guardian before she died. And I just didn’t feel comfortable handing over keys and property without a judge ordering that,” Silgjord said.

She also told Collin about some strange timing of events…

“I had filed an unrelated grievance against my chief and the department and within like two days, there was a complaint from Roger Arney that I later found out that my police chief testified that he signed the complaint. So this citizen’s complaint came forward and they put me on leave immediately. And then they started the process to terminate me for this complaint for being Joan’s guardian,” Silgjord said. 

As Collin pointed out, Silgjord was not taking any money from Joan’s estate—but actually petitioned the court to donate her estate to honor her wishes after her death. 

Three years later, Silgjord was criminally charged 

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office criminally charged Silgjord three years later, which she found out via the media.

“It was shocking. I ended up going through the probate process to advocate for Joan, even after her death. I wanted the courts to hear me out is that all I was asking is for the consideration that Joan’s estate be donated to charity. I felt like that was a better purpose for her legacy and her name was to do something good and to pay it forward to the world versus just handing over everything to an estranged abuser of hers that he had a restraining order against,” Silgjord told Collin.

“I just, wanted a judge to at least hear my side of it. I knew that there was a chance that I wouldn’t win and I was okay with that. I just wanted to let them know that this wasn’t some loving husband who is, you know, worried about his wife. I mean, this was a man who was out of the picture for eight plus years. And then as soon as she passed away, he was at the bank trying to drain her bank accounts. And the bank was the one who called me and said, ‘Hey, he’s here trying to drain her accounts, you need to get here,’” Silgjord explained.  

She also said that she was “a very outspoken officer against some of the corrupt things that were happening against how they were handling things, mishandling things, cases that were not being handled being told to stand down on things.”

“So from that retaliation, I did civilly sue the city of Cloquet and they settled.  And I did resign from my position in Cloquet,” Silgjord said. 

“Then I was living my life, I was moving on, I started a new career. And then three years after this, there’s criminal charges that I find out from the media versus just finding out before everybody else. It was crazy that everything was released straight to the media and I was like the last one to find out. It was sick,” she said.

Silgjord stands trial

Silgjord was acquitted of two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult. 

However, she was found guilty of attempted theft by swindle. Collin asked Silgjord about Minnesota’s so-called “justice” system. 

She replied, “I spent my entire career advocating for the justice system and thinking that it would work and that there was good out there. But I have now experienced my entire time being a police officer is that the court system just systematically is just selectively picking and choosing which cases they care about, which cases they want to prosecute, which cases people are going to get a slap on the wrist or ones that they’re going to throw and lock away the key.”

The Cloquet Police Department did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

As for the local media, Silgjord explained that in the past five years, “nobody ever cared to get my side of the story.” 

In going through the ordeal, Silgjord explained, “it’s just frustrating to have your entire character be thrown to the wolves and having a very political and weaponization of the justice system to go after me. for what I felt was just trying to do the right thing to like make sure that her life and her legacy was honored when she had nobody else there for her in her final moments.” 

Response from Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison

Alpha News asked Attorney General Keith Ellison if Silgjord’s case was another witch hunt against law enforcement.

In response, John Stiles, the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of Minnesota Attorney Keith Ellison replied: 

“There was no evidence introduced at trial to support these allegations. Ms. Silgjord was criminally convicted in Carlton County by a jury of her peers, which is the highest standard of proof in our criminal-justice system.”

With regard to evidence, Silgjord also explained to Collin that, “the judge had prohibited a lot of that from ever getting presented to the jurors, including like the restraining order. They never actually physically got to look at Joan’s affidavit of the abuse she endured. It just feels just very selective, retaliatory and just vindictive.”

On Monday, August 11, Judge Amy Lukasavitz, who was appointed by Gov. Tim Walz, denied Silgjord’s motions for a new trial. 

A sentencing hearing for Silgjord is scheduled for September 19th.

 

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