This arrest comes more than a year after the same man, 62-year-old James Kaska, was investigated for similar allegations, where charges were never filed by the Codington County States' attorney's office.

"I know they did a very thorough job and we talk to a lot of kids and we felt confident enough in the case to forward it to the state's attorney's office," Watertown Police Chief Tim Toomey said in a May 2022 interview.

In May of 2022, KELOLAND Investigates sat down with the Watertown Police Department after the state's attorney's office did not prosecute a child sexual contact case against James Kaska.

"She told me that Pop-Pop had put his hands down her pants and stuck his fingers in her," Autumn Stricherz said during a May 2022 interview.

Nearly four years ago, Autumn Stricherz's then four-year-old daughter shared the disturbing news after returning from her in-home daycare, where James Kaska was left to care for children.

"He didn't even deny the act of being in her pants, himself. He didn't deny that at all," Stricherz said in May 2022.

"I don't understand. That's why I'm sitting here. I don't get it," Stricherz attorney Seamus Culhane said in a May 2022 interview.

When the Codington County States' attorney chose not to prosecute Kaska, the Stricherz family hired their own attorney for a civil case, where Kaska admits to touching the young child under her shorts. Still, no criminal charges were filed.

"I'm very happy that he's behind bars, I don't think he should have been on our streets," Stricherz said.

On Friday, the Watertown Police Department notified Stricherz that Kaska was taken into custody for a different case.

"My heart goes out to that child and the family, I've been there, so I can absolutely imagine what they're going through," Stricherz said.

The details of the new case are sealed to protect the identity of the juvenile involved, but court documents show he is accused of aggravated incest and 1st degree rape involving a child less than 13 years old.

"It could have been prevented or stopped, I don't know the details on this current case, whether it was an ongoing thing or not, it could have been prevented or stopped," Stricherz said.

Stricherz is angry and frustrated another child may have been harmed, but she's also thankful Kaska is behind bars.

"I'm hoping maybe this will reopen the doors so there can be some justice for my daughter also," Stricherz said.

Court documents detailing the probable cause for the new charges are sealed at this time. Kaska is being held on a $30,000 cash-only bond and is expected to appear in court again tomorrow.

Here's a visualization of the day to day numbers in each category throughout the rally in 2023 vs. 2022.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers

While the largest number of changes were in warnings and cash seized, both down from 2022, the thing that may stand out most is the steep rise in drug arrests.

In 2022, there were a total of 251 drug arrests at the rally. This year, there were 401.

This 150 arrest increase represents a 59.7% increase in drug arrests overall.

KELOLAND News reached out to DPS on Friday, August 11 and again on Monday, August 14, asking for an interview or information on the following:

• Reasons that we're seeing more drug arrests this year than last year (~400 vs ~250 last year).
• Whether we've seen drugs primarily for personal use/small sales, or whether it was mainly large quantities for sale and distribution.
• The types and quantities of the drugs found this year, whether certain types were seen more than others, and whether the types of drugs have been changing year over year.
• If there were large-scale drug busts this year, or if most of these arrests resulted from more routine things such as speeding stops or DUI checks.

On Monday we received an email telling us that the data provided speaks for itself.

The data does show that there's been an increase in arrests, but does not give any context regarding why there are more arrests, what drugs have been found, the quantities of the drugs or the circumstances in which they were found.

KELOLAND News followed up, asking again for this information, and received this response:

"Thanks for reaching out to DPS.
We appreciate your interest but have nothing further to add at this time."

Hundreds of teachers in the Sioux Falls School District started orientation and training Monday at Jefferson High School, and those brand new to the profession received something extra.

"We at the Education Foundation are here to surprise 80 first-time, first-year teachers with $200 grants," Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation Executive Director Allison Struck said.

Education Foundation Executive Director Allison Struck says the dollars are theirs to use as they see fit.

"Teachers are using those grant dollars to buy bulletins, posters, classroom sets of books, organization kits, puzzles, games, math manipulatives, anything that's going to help their students in the classroom," Struck said.

"More posters in my room, maybe some fun seating arrangements, also like some hands on activities and games for my kids," Jane Addams Elementary teacher Mollie Kelly said.

Mollie Kelly is a first-time teacher at the Elementary Immersion Center at Jane Addams. She's approaching the year with a nervous excitement.

"I heard a good quote today, I heard that if you're nervous that's a good thing, it means you care, so that made me feel a little bit better (laugh)," Kelly said.

The grant will help these first time teachers start their career off on the right foot.

"I have some family friends who are teachers and just all good news, all good words," Kelly said.

"There's a national study that shows teachers spend about $500 out of pocket every year purchasing supplies for their classroom, so this is a small way for us to show them that we see them, we appreciate them, and especially that we value them choosing to teach here in the Sioux Falls School District," Struck said.

The first day of school in the Sioux Falls School District is Thursday, August 24th.

According to new filings online, the 17, 18 and 19-year-old suspects are scheduled to appear in court on October 3.

As of today, all six suspects are out on bond.

Hudson Haley and Landon Waddell - who face the most charges - both had to come up with $7,000 cash.

According to court documents, they're both accused of having two different victims.

The other suspects each had to pay $5,000 in cash.

The alleged crimes happened earlier this year in Pennington County when Mitchell's varsity legion team was out of town for a tournament.

Authorities say there are also juveniles accused in connection with the investigation, but details on their cases are not being released.

As of Aug. 14, there are six 2024 ballot questions approved for collecting signatures: 

• A constitutional amendment establishing a right to an abortion in the state. 
• A constitutional amendment to create top-two primary elections.
• A constitutional amendment to limit state lawmakers from serving more than 16 years in the legislature. 
• A constitutional amendment prohibiting the legislature from amending or repealing ballot measures for seven years. 
• Both a constitutional amendment and initiated measure to stop the sales tax on groceries. 

In addition to the six questions approved for collecting signatures, there’s two marijuana-related proposed ballot measures that have received draft statements from Attorney General Marty Jackley. State law requires the AG to provide a draft title and explanation for each ballot measure to help voters of the purpose and effect of the proposed measure. 

The AG’s office has received comments on a proposed initiated measure to repeal South Dakota’s medical marijuana program. The AG’s office is also currently receiving comments (until Aug. 21) on a proposed initiated measure to legalize marijuana possession for people 21 years of age or older. 

If both measures end up being approved to start collecting signatures by the secretary of state’s office, there’s a chance South Dakota voters could vote on repealing medical marijuana in the state and vote on legalizing marijuana.  

The South Dakota Constitution sets thresholds for the number of signatures required from registered South Dakota voters for a measure to make the ballot. For the 2024 election, the number of signatures are a minimum of 17,508 valid signatures for a proposed initiated measure and a minimum of 35,017 valid signatures for a proposed constitutional amendment. 

Travis Ismay, with an address listed in Butte County, is the main sponsor for the ballot measure looking to repeal medical marijuana. There were more than 45 submitted comments to the AG’s office from July 27 to Aug. 6 on the draft statement.  

Ismay wrote to have the first paragraph of the ballot explanation removed. 

“This has nothing to do with the ballot initiative itself, only the approval of the sad law 34-20g that this initiative is attempting to repeal,” an email from Ismay said. 

There were many submitted comments criticizing the proposed ballot measure but not offering comment on the AG draft statement. 

Matthew Schweich, with an address listed in Sioux Falls, is the main sponsor for the ballot measure looking to legalize marijuana. Schweich led the 2022 fight for marijuana legalization. 

The proposed ballot measure is only four sections long and comments on the AG’s draft statement will be received until Aug. 21.

Marijuana history in South Dakota

The 2024 election would be the third consecutive election South Dakota voters would weigh in on the topic of marijuana legalization. 

In 2020, medical marijuana was on the ballot twice in 2020 in both Amendment A and Initiated Measure 26. IM 26, which was strictly an initiated measure dealing with medical marijuana, passed by a 70%-30% margin in 2020. 

In 2022, Initiated Measure 27, a ballot measure to legalize marijuana, failed 53%-47%.   

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but 23 states have legalized marijuana for people 21 and older. 

Documents were presented around 9 p.m. by the county courts clerk to the Fulton County judge who for months has been presiding over the investigation.

The grand jury heard from witnesses into the evening Monday in the election subversion investigation into Donald Trump, a long day of testimony punctuated by the mysterious and brief appearance on a county website of a list of criminal charges against the former president that prosecutors later disavowed.

Prosecutors in Fulton County presented evidence to the grand jury as they pushed toward a likely indictment, summoning multiple former state officials including the ex-lieutenant governor as witnesses.

But the process hit an unexpected snag in the middle of the day, when Reuters reported on a document listing criminal charges to be brought against Trump, including state racketeering counts, conspiracy to commit false statements and solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer.

Reuters, which later published a copy of the document, said the filing was taken down quickly. A spokesperson for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said the report of charges being filed was “inaccurate,” but declined to comment further on a kerfuffle that the Trump legal team rapidly jumped on to attack the integrity of the investigation.

The office of the Fulton County courts clerk later released a statement that seemed to only raise more questions, calling the posted document “fictitious,” but failing to explain how it got on the court's website. The clerk's office said documents without official case numbers “are not considered official filings and should not be treated as such.” But the document that appeared online did have a case number on it.

Asked about the “fictitious" document Monday evening, the courts clerk, Che Alexander, said: “I mean, I don’t know what else to say, like, grace … I don’t know, I haven’t seen an indictment, right, so I don’t have anything.” On the question of whether the website had been hacked, she said, “I can't speak to that.”

Trump and his allies, who have characterized the investigation as politically motivated, immediately seized on the apparent error to claim that the process was rigged. Trump’s campaign aimed to fundraise off it, sending out an email with the since-deleted document embedded.

“The Grand Jury testimony has not even FINISHED – but it’s clear the District Attorney has already decided how this case will end,” Trump wrote in the email, which included links to give money to his campaign. “This is an absolute DISGRACE.”

Trump’s legal team said it was not a “simple administrative mistake." Rather it was “emblematic of the pervasive and glaring constitutional violations which have plagued this case from its very inception,” said lawyers Drew Findling, Jennifer Little and Marissa Goldberg.

It was unclear why the list was posted while grand jurors were still hearing from witnesses in the sprawling investigation into actions taken by Trump and others in their efforts to overturn his narrow loss in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden. It was also unclear whether grand jurors were aware that the filing was posted online. They still would need to vote on charges, so the counts listed in the posting may or may not ultimately be brought against Trump.

Legal experts said it was likely a clerical error listing charges prosecutors were planning to ask the grand jury to vote on. Prosecutors draft indictments and present them to the grand jury, which ultimately decides whether to hand charges down.

“I think this tells us what they are planning to present to the grand jury, and the grand jury could say no,” said Clark Cunningham, a Georgia State University law professor. He said while the error will give Trump's legal team fodder to complain, “it will not scuttle the case.”

"Will his lawyers make a lot of noise about it? Yes, they will. Will Mr. Trump make a lot of noise about it? Yes, he will. I’m sure there will have to be an explanation for it,” Cunningham said.

One person who said he’d been called to testify to the grand jury suggested on Monday that the process may be moving more quickly than anticipated. George Chidi, an independent journalist, had tweeted previously that he was asked to testify on Tuesday, but later posted he was going to court on Monday, adding: “They’re moving faster than they thought.”

Chidi wrote in The Intercept last month that he barged “into a semi-clandestine meeting of Republicans pretending to be Georgia’s official electors in December 2020.” He described being thrown out of the room just after entering, told that it was an “education meeting.”

Former lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan, who over the weekend said he'd also been asked to testify Tuesday, instead appeared before the grand jury Monday. He told reporters outside the courthouse that the 2020 election had been “fair and legal” and said now was the “opportunity to get the real story out.”

The document listing criminal charges filed midday Monday listed more than a dozen felony counts, including Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO. Willis has long been expected to levy that charge against Trump and his associates, accusing them of participating in a wide-ranging conspiracy to overturn the state’s 2020 election results.

Two counts — including solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer — listed the date of offense as Jan. 2, 2021, which was when Trump during a phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he wanted to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss in the state. Other counts list the date of offense as Sept. 17, 2021, which is the same day Trump sent Raffensperger a message urging him to investigate “large scale voter fraud," decertify the election and “announce the true winner” if the investigation found the fraud.

Former Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan, who had been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, said as she left the Fulton County courthouse late Monday morning that she had been questioned for about 40 minutes. Former Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen also confirmed that she testified. News outlets reported that Gabriel Sterling, a top official in the secretary of state’s office, was seen arriving at the courthouse earlier Monday.

“No individual is above the law, and I will continue to fully cooperate with any legal proceedings seeking the truth and protecting our democracy,” Nguyen said in a statement.

Nguyen and Jordan both attended legislative hearings in December 2020 during which former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and others made false claims of widespread election fraud in Georgia. Trump lawyer John Eastman also appeared during at least one of those hearings and said the election had not been held in compliance with Georgia law and that lawmakers should appoint a new slate of electors.

Sterling and his boss, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — both Republicans — forcefully pushed back against allegations of widespread problems with Georgia's election.

Trump famously called Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, and suggested the state's top elections official could help “find” the votes Trump needed to beat Biden. It was the release of a recording of that phone call that prompted Willis to open her investigation about a month later.

"Being on the ground would be very difficult at times. You see a lot of carnage, a lot of suffering. It's very rewarding, though knowing that you're making a difference. Three weeks is a long time away from friends and family staying in conditions that are not always the best conditions," said Robert Reuland, disaster program manager at the Eastern South Dakota Red Cross.

Reuland says resources like blood are crucial, especially for people in Maui.

"People can donate blood to the time of disaster. The blood supply does get depleted pretty quickly. So anyone that's able to donate blood, that'd be greatly appreciated," said Reuland.

"Obviously in these kinds of situations. Hawaii is not going to be doing any blood drives right now for a while in these affected areas. So their supply of blood would be depleted," said Patty Brooks, executive director of the Eastern South Dakota Red Cross.

Brooks says in situations like these, it takes years for communities to heal.

"I do expect that once the recovery piece is done with the responders who are on the ground right now that the Red Cross will move into more of a disaster assessment, and we will help those who are affected by these wildfires rebuild their lives in many different ways. With their housing, financially, reunification with loved ones, mental health, we will be the boots on the ground probably for months to come," said Brooks.

Click here for more information and donation links to the American Red Cross.

Each year during the Sturgis Rally Fire Departments from across the state gather to work on new or updated training.

"For this year, we have decided to freshen and sharpen our skills on some rope rescue training. And it's kind of a joint training that we do with other members from across the state," RCFD Captain Ryan Ricke said.

This year Rapid City teamed up with Aberdeen, Watertown and Sioux Falls. This helps them get on the same page statewide when it comes to helping the public.

As state-wide firefighters are doing their annual training, working with ropes, repelling, and going up as a team, they're accomplishing and getting over new fears to be ready for any situation they might come into.

"Heights have never been my thing, I come from the beach and water is kind of my thing. I've not been around the mountains or the cliffs much so this is all fairly new to me and it's a bit nerve-racking but it's fun having all the guys here supporting me," Firefighter EMT Clayton Martinez said.

While this training is great for new firefighters like Martinez, it's also a refresher for the others.

"It's more so just a mental battle per se. This equipment is all pretty strong and it pretty much takes care of the job for you, so you don't have to use too much of your own energy. It's just kind of taking that step over the edge and actually trusting the equipment itself," Martinez said.

"It can be used for a variety of things. All of our USAR, Urban Search and Rescue SPecialties, require a certain amount of rope knowledge. Anything if we're going to be moving heavy things, or rescuing people. There's always some kind of rope aspect or could be," Ricke said.

Making sure they are prepared to respond to any type of emergency.

These training sessions are one of many ways the Fire Departments across the State stay ready when called on.

A panel of state lawmakers will decide next month whether the change that the state Transportation Commission made July 27 can take effect.

The state Department of Transportation is also considering whether to extend the 65 mph zone even farther east, possibly all the way to South Dakota's border with Minnesota.

The speed limit on I-90 is 70 mph in Minnesota. Most of I-90 across South Dakota is 80 mph, outside the Sioux Falls and Rapid City areas, throughout the year.

The 65 mph limit also is in effect for 11 days each August on the stretch of I-90 in the Sturgis through Rapid City area during the the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

The Legislature's Rules Review Committee is scheduled to consider the proposed change for the Veterans Parkway exit on September 12. The lawmakers also will look at a proposal to extend the 25-mph zone on US 385 in Hot Springs.

Karla Engle, an attorney for the state Department of Transportation, explained to the Transportation Commission that the goal of the slower speeds is to improve safety.

The proposed changes were sent to the mayors of Brandon, Sioux Falls and Hot Springs and to the sheriffs of Minnehaha and Fall River counties. They supported the changes, according to Engle, and in the case of Hot Springs, city officials sought the change.

The department received no written comments from the public and no one showed up to testify either way at the July 27 public hearing.

Engle told the state commission there have been 60 crashes in the stretch of I-90 between the Veterans Parkway and I-229 exits since the Veterans Parkway exit opened. She said there's also a vertical curve on the eastbound lanes of I-90 just before the Veterans Parkway exit. "We want to slow them down so they have more time to make that decision," she said.

Commission chair Jafar Karim of Rapid City asked about extending the 65-mph zone farther east.

“There may be additional changes that come to you on that issue,” Engle said.

Commissioner Mike Vehle of Mitchell was a state senator when the Legislature raised the speed limit to 80 mph for most of I-90 and most of I-29 in 2015. He said motorists traveling west from Minnesota at 70 mph reach the South Dakota border and speed up to 80 mph for a few miles only to have to slow again to 65 mph as they approach Sioux Falls.

“I think we need to be careful there. And I don’t know what that number would be. Sioux Falls is going to grow, more than likely,” Vehle said.

Transportation Secretary Joel Jundt said that stretch is on some of his staff's minds. “We’ve already got it on our to-do list,” Jundt said.

The proposed change on US 385 would extend the 25-mph zone about three-tenths of a mile in Hot Springs to the intersection with US 18. That short stretch currently is 35 mph. The area is under construction, with pedestrian crossings being added.

"We're expecting increased bicycle and pedestrian traffic on this highway," Engle said.

KELOLAND News has a photographer on the scene, we will keep you updated online and on-air as we learn more.