ND ND - Thomas 'Tom' Bearson, 19, Fargo, 20 Sep 2014 #3

[Rocco]

In the Andrew Sadek case, no one other than Andrew himself, LE, and the drug task force were aware of his charges involving 2 sales of marijuana totaling 3.35 grams (which I am told amounts to having sold about 5 “joints” or $40 worth of marijuana) on school property. This information wasn’t made public AT ALL. Even the college claimed no awareness. It wasn’t until after he was missing that the charges became known to anyone. It wasn’t until after the charges were made public that the family became aware of his involvement with the drug task force, and that WASN’T because LE or the drug task force told them. They with-held that information. I can’t say it enough --These operations are NOT made public.
Having on your possession particular amounts of any drugs can be considered “with intent to sell” without an actual sale occurring, and if this happens within the vicinity of a school then potential maximum charges relate, and they are hefty (felonies, $20,000 + fines, prison, loss of grants and financial aid, loss of nursing future).
You have said that in only a month’s time in Fargo that TB could not have this occur, but at the same time, you believe that he can potentially have a drug buy gone bad and already knows who to deal with?
It's all complete speculation, and I for one am not ruling out the possibility. I’m not keeping all my eggs in one basket either, because I usually place mine in the refrigerator.
Well of course none of us know this case with 100% certainty, but there is absolutely zero evidence so far that he was accidentally hit by a car of drunk people, drug buy gone bad, or beat to death in a gang initiation act (in fact LE has already dispelled that rumor). Those are gigantic leaps as much as anyone else’s concerning this case. I respect others opinions, and I am well aware that Fargo PD is not the CIA. P.S. This would involve the drug task force (not the CIA).
This article discusses these operations:
http://www.minnpost.com/politics-pol...onsin-campuses

:judge:

Sorry, CNC. I can't give you any of my eggs.

 

[Rocco]

I happen to have a dozen eggs handy.

I'll put 3 eggs in your basket #2 and 3 eggs in your basket #3. I'm saving the other 6 eggs.

ETA:

I changed my mind. I would like to put one more egg in basket #2 after reading the last sentence of your post.

 

[ATasteOfHoney]

ETA:

I changed my mind. I would like to put one more egg in basket #2 after reading the last sentence of your post.

It is very hard to figure out how many eggs to put in which baskets but after 60 days....they're starting to rot, iykwim? So frustrating & so sad.

TB's friends & loved ones must be going through so much pain & sadness!

RIP TB

 

[raider]

Good morning all,

Haven't stopped by here for a while after becoming disheartened by the lack of publicly stated developments in the case, but I thought I'd pop in and see what trail you lot have followed.

I am glad to see that there has been a departure of interest over twitter conspiracies. Not saying there isn't anything there, I just don't think it's some golden clue. On that front by the way, I read recently that Tom's best friend said something about Tom's tweet being blown out of proportion and that he spoke to him after that tweet was sent. <--- Hope this doesn't drag attention back to twitter, not my intent.

There was a lot mentioned about the possibility of being hit by a car. Was there something specific that pointed in that direction or just narrowing down? It was mentioned that "homicidal violence" could refer to being struck by a vehicle, but something tells me that if that were the case LE would have used different terminology and by now would have found a traffic camera from that night that showed a car driving around with a damaged hood. Not counting it out, and definitely not counting out the involvement of a car, but I don't think it's likely that Tom being struck was the COD.

I want to offer a little insight on the confidential informant front. Let me precede this by stating that it is not my opinion that this theory is correct, just have some experience that might enlighten you on the likelihood. It was strongly suggested that it is not likely Tom would have been approached to inform being that he was not in the area for long and also it is assumed that when someone is asked to inform it is because they were caught with a hefty amount of contraband.

Unfortunately that assumption is absolutely wrong. I'm going to tell a little about myself. Once upon a time not long ago I was an undergraduate attending NDSU. While in Fargo, it seemed that every person I knew either sold or smoked weed. Personally I hate weed, did not and do not smoke it, but being a young guy who liked to party it was pretty much inevitable that I was going to run into people that did. Because of the close personal relationships I had with these people, I can tell you with no uncertainty that LE in Fargo absolutely loves to catch people for small amounts of marijuana so they can use them as informants. It might sound bizarre, because it is. It's like one of the officer's watched Training Day or something and thought being Denzel would be kind of neat.

At the top of my head I can think of seven people I knew in Fargo who were in one way or another found to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana (the reasons ranged from buying with an undercover officer present or having someone inform on them to being pulled over and having their vehicle searched) and were asked to inform on someone else to get their possession charge wiped. The whole thing didn't make any sense because it would literally be one guy getting ratted on and LE would tell him his life was over unless he did the same, so then he'd sell a bag to another guy with LE present, and this guy would go on to sell to another guy as an informant. It was all lateral movement, they didn't seem to be trying to get to a source. I feel like it's worth mentioning by the way, that one of these guy's landed himself in this situation after getting a DUI and being found in possession. Oh and he was a transfer sophomore and had been in town no more than a month or two.

Okay, that's enough of that. So what's the point here? Was Tom an informant? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows. If he was, I highly doubt it had anything to do with why he was murdered. Like some of the other theories, if this was the case I would expect LE to have someone in custody by now. People in college towns have loose lips and if someone murdered Tom because he informed on them or they thought he was going to, LE would have been made aware by now who is at fault.

After that horrendous article that was published a couple weeks ago in which Tom's disrespectful roommate was interviewed, I don't want to speculate too much about what Tom may or may not have been in to, but I will say that I don't think there is enough to totally rule this avenue out.

I'm sure you're all bored by now, carry on.

 

[BankingOnIt]

No, possession of less than an ounce is not a felony. (And an ounce of marijuana is a lot larger quantity than you might think. Someone who is an occasional user likely wouldn't have that much on them.) Possesion of paraphanelia is not a felony either.

http://norml.org/laws/item/north-dakota-penalties-2

On a campus? All of it is.
Getting A DUI has much less social stigma than drug charges. Is Tom going tobwantbyo get a DUI, MIP AND marijuana charges??
No, no he is not.

The backpack he carried probably wasn't his own. The phone he carried probably wasn't his own. That's why the video has "disappeared.." IMO.

Toxicology comes back clear on Tom Bearson? I say we have here another Andrew Sadek case.

 

[BankingOnIt]

Good morning all,

Haven't stopped by here for a while after becoming disheartened by the lack of publicly stated developments in the case, but I thought I'd pop in and see what trail you lot have followed.

I am glad to see that there has been a departure of interest over twitter conspiracies. Not saying there isn't anything there, I just don't think it's some golden clue. On that front by the way, I read recently that Tom's best friend said something about Tom's tweet being blown out of proportion and that he spoke to him after that tweet was sent. <--- Hope this doesn't drag attention back to twitter, not my intent.

There was a lot mentioned about the possibility of being hit by a car. Was there something specific that pointed in that direction or just narrowing down? It was mentioned that "homicidal violence" could refer to being struck by a vehicle, but something tells me that if that were the case LE would have used different terminology and by now would have found a traffic camera from that night that showed a car driving around with a damaged hood. Not counting it out, and definitely not counting out the involvement of a car, but I don't think it's likely that Tom being struck was the COD.

I want to offer a little insight on the confidential informant front. Let me precede this by stating that it is not my opinion that this theory is correct, just have some experience that might enlighten you on the likelihood. It was strongly suggested that it is not likely Tom would have been approached to inform being that he was not in the area for long and also it is assumed that when someone is asked to inform it is because they were caught with a hefty amount of contraband.

Unfortunately that assumption is absolutely wrong. I'm going to tell a little about myself. Once upon a time not long ago I was an undergraduate attending NDSU. While in Fargo, it seemed that every person I knew either sold or smoked weed. Personally I hate weed, did not and do not smoke it, but being a young guy who liked to party it was pretty much inevitable that I was going to run into people that did. Because of the close personal relationships I had with these people, I can tell you with no uncertainty that LE in Fargo absolutely loves to catch people for small amounts of marijuana so they can use them as informants. It might sound bizarre, because it is. It's like one of the officer's watched Training Day or something and thought being Denzel would be kind of neat.

At the top of my head I can think of seven people I knew in Fargo who were in one way or another found to be in possession of a small amount of marijuana (the reasons ranged from buying with an undercover officer present or having someone inform on them to being pulled over and having their vehicle searched) and were asked to inform on someone else to get their possession charge wiped. The whole thing didn't make any sense because it would literally be one guy getting ratted on, so then he'd sell a bag to another guy with LE present, and this guy would go on to sell to another guy as an informant. It was all lateral movement, they didn't seem to be trying to get to a source. I feel like it's worth mentioning by the way, that one of these guy's found himself in this situation after getting a DUI and being found in possession. Oh and he was a transfer sophomore and had been in town no more than a month or two.

Okay, that's enough of that. So what's the point here? Was Tom an informant? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows. If he was, I highly doubt it had anything to do with why he was murdered. Like some of the other theories, if this was the case I would expect LE to have someone in custody by now. People in college towns have loose lips and if someone murdered Tom because he informed on them or they thought he was going to, LE would have been made aware by now who is at fault.

After that horrendous article that was published a couple weeks ago in which Tom's disrespectful roommate was interviewed, I don't want to speculate too much about what Tom may or may not have been in to, but I will say that I don't think there is enough to totally rule this avenue out.

I'm sure you're all bored by now, carry on.

Based on this post, I think Tom WAS a confidential informant. JMO. Times have changed a lot in 20 years.. What is your opinion of Andrew Sadek then?

 

[guest user]

What was the name linked to the phone # of the last "lost" tweet again? Was it "cheeseater" or something to that effect? "Cheese sniffer"???

Anyone remember?

Very important.....

A quick google of those terms relate to CI's.

Prayers to TB & family.

Moo

cheesesniffer69

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Cheese is also a slang term for "Tylenol with smack" or heroin with cold medicine. It's in a powder form that looks like parmesean cheese, hence the name, and frequently snorted or sniffed. I'm not accusing TB of doing Cheese but just offering up this tidbit of information. Are there any locals who can provide any insight to the prevalence of heroin in MN and ND? I know TX was dealing with an influx of Cheese and teenage deaths around 2006, 2007, or 2008. I don't recall the exact year. I have read reports, which I can't currently find, regarding increasing drug problems in ND reportedly due to the oil field and rig workers.

 

[BankingOnIt]

Well of course we don't know that with 100% certainty, but there is absolutely zero evidence that it was anything more than a DUI. And again, you aren't understanding the school grounds thing. The potential penalties only rise if he was dealing drugs on school grounds. Possession on school grounds is no different than possession anywhere else. And there is also zero evidence of that. Look, I respect all politely presented opinions, but I really think you are taking a pretty gigantic leap with the whole confidential informant thing. Fargo PD is not the CIA. Not to mention that it wouldn't make sense to get a guy who just arrived in town to be a CI. I'm sure the police have plenty of CIs, but it doesn't make sense for them to have TB be a CI when he just moved to Fargo within a month of when this happened. Police want CIs who already have connections. TB would have very little to offer as a CI.

Disagree. Tom is "the life of the party" and Mr. Popularity. It could explain why he put himself into a crowd of people he didn't know that fateful Friday night. Did he regularly hang out with JW? No it appears he didn't. But JW was the one kid that could get him down to the trap to hang out with kids he didn't know.. Was he trying to make an "in" with a crowd he didn't know very well? Seems certain. Why?

 

[raider]

Originally Posted by ATasteOfHoney View Post
What was the name linked to the phone # of the last "lost" tweet again? Was it "cheeseater" or something to that effect? "Cheese sniffer"???

Anyone remember?

Very important.....

A quick google of those terms relate to CI's.

Prayers to TB & family.

Moo

Originally Posted by east2west View Post
cheesesniffer69

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Cheese is also a slang term for "Tylenol with smack" or heroin with cold medicine. It's in a powder form that looks like parmesean cheese, hence the name, and frequently snorted or sniffed. I'm not accusing TB of doing Cheese but just offering up this tidbit of information. Are there any locals who can provide any insight to the prevalence of heroin in MN and ND? I know TX was dealing with an influx of Cheese and teenage deaths around 2006, 2007, or 2008. I don't recall the exact year. I have read reports, which I can't currently find, regarding increasing drug problems in ND reportedly due to the oil field and rig workers.

I really struggle with this. I can understand that this is an open case with a whole lot of questions and basically no answers so people are trying to consider every angle, but it will only lead to confusion even considering something like that name. Someone mentioned that it sounds like a stupid name that a teenager would come up with...because it is. Cheesesniffer69? Are you kidding me? How could that possibly allude to some sort of deeper meaning? It's the name of an XBOX gaming profile and he clearly was trying to come up with something funny. It has 69 in the name, I mean come on.

As far as heroin goes, I do know that it's a fairly sizable problem in MN. Nothing that a teenager from the St. Cloud area would be getting into, but a problem nonetheless.

Edit: Shoot, I was trying to quote everything. This quoting thing is lost on me.

Edit: Not perfect, but that's a little better.

 

[MINNESOTA-MOM]

People - some of this is getting a little "Oliver Stoneish".

I come to this site every day hoping to hear the news that the case is nearing resolution. I'm consistently disappointed like all of you.

But i just refuse to believe the police are not being tactical, professional, and thorough in investigating this.

The posts are interesting but i just cannot believe anything nefarious is going on in regards to the LE efforts. Does anyone really believe they're suppressing a supposed news video or even could if they wanted to?

Also, I tend to agree with the poster who said we need to back off of family and friends and they're reactions to the tragedy they are living. Afterall, we seriously don't know a thing about what is really going on with them. Has it come to arriving at conclusions about a persons motives and integrity and guilt or innocence solely based on social media posts? Or lack of them?

I don't intend to quash discussion - this is all interesting - but let's be realistic. Us outsiders are getting crumbs and trying to make a cake out of it.

I know we all want justice for Tom. Let's hope we get it no matter how long it takes....which honestly....may be a ways off.

Thanks for listening.

I would suggest to you that the Andrew Sadek case is very Oliver Stone-ish.

IMO, this is what happens when no information is released to the public. Rumor mills run on overtime, people feel like they are being lied to, etc.. Etc...

 

[MINNESOTA-MOM]

I really struggle with this. I can understand that this is an open case with a whole lot of questions and basically no answers so people are trying to consider every angle, but it will only lead to confusion even considering something like that name. Someone mentioned that it sounds like a stupid name that a teenager would come up with...because it is. Cheesesniffer69? Are you kidding me? How could that possibly allude to some sort of deeper meaning? It's the name of an XBOX gaming profile and he clearly was trying to come up with something funny. It has 69 in the name, I mean come on.

As far as heroin goes, I do know that it's a fairly sizable problem in MN. Nothing that a teenager from the St. Cloud area would be getting into, but a problem nonetheless.

Edit: Shoot, I was trying to quote everything. This quoting thing is lost on me.

Edit: Not perfect, but that's a little better.

Perhaps, Raider, you were not here when it was discovered that the person with the "Cheesesniffer" XBOX gamer tag has his motto as "Call 320-2@@-@&$)!" Which is the very same number and way it was mentioned in mysterious tweet.

 

[MINNESOTA-MOM]

I happen to have a dozen eggs handy.

I'll put 3 eggs in your basket #2 and 3 eggs in your basket #3. I'm saving the other 6 eggs.

Oh Rocco. I hope you are a mediator somewhere in your life. I've wanted to punch you (not literally) a few times for your posts but sometimes I appreciate your levity.

I think LE has dirty hands. You want to give me any eggs?

 

[raider]

Based on this post, I think Tom WAS a confidential informant. JMO. Times have changed a lot in 20 years.. What is your opinion of Andrew Sadek then?

Honestly, I don't know. It's tough. The comparisons between the two are easy to draw because they're both young guys, both had arrests, and were both found mysteriously dead after disappearing late at night. The difference is that we know Tom was murdered and don't know for a fact that Andrew Sadek was.

Do I think Andrew Sadek was murdered? I can see it both ways. His mom said he had plans for the weekend and didn't seem unhappy, but those are both common factors in people who commit suicide. And if he was to believe LE that he was looking at nearly 40 years in prison at the age of 19, there's definitely motive there. You also don't hear about an awful lot of drug-related murders when the subject is marijuana, but then again this is 40 years.

To me, the only detail that screams murder is the fact that the gun has not been found. I don't know much about the buoyancy of a gun, and the current in the Red River can be strong but I find it pretty hard to believe that gun was not near his body if he committed suicide. And there weren't any reports of hearing a gunshot in that area?

It's hard to land one way or another on that. Now, could the two be related? If Andrew Sadek was in fact murdered, it was planned. Tom's murder seems a lot more spur of the moment. They placed his body somewhere it would inevitably be found and it sounds like everything surrounding this was messy. Maybe they were both informants, and both murdered, but somehow I don't think the two cases are related. That's just my opinion, I've been wrong about things before. Also keep in mind that according to Sadek's mother, he was working with LE for a year before his death. A lot more time for someone to figure out if he was working against them. I suppose that could also add weight to why it seemed more calculated though.

 

[raider]

Perhaps, Raider, you were not here when it was discovered that the person with the "Cheesesniffer" XBOX gamer tag has his motto as "Call 320-2@@-@&$)!" Which is the very same number and way it was mentioned in mysterious tweet.
View attachment 64076

Y'know, I actually was around when this discovery was made and it took all of my willpower not to post some snippy comment at the time. At risk of being snarky, if I recall correctly, the same person who brought attention to the XBOX profile also theorized that Tom's death had something to do with neo-nazi's because of a heartless comment left on social media. Taking that into consideration, I'm thinking I didn't take the profile thing very seriously.

I can't believe this is still being mulled over, but lets put the whole tweet and number thing into perspective. The number almost certainly belongs to Tom. Why? Tom sends a tweet to a guy he just met or hasn't met yet in the company of that guy's roommate most likely because the roommate is without his phone or the battery has died. So Tom leaves HIS number to be called. Also, the area code is Tom's hometown so that's extra deduction.

The phone number is on the motto for an XBOX account. Why? It's either Tom's account or one of his friend's accounts putting the number up as a joke. There's no way, repeat, no way the name cheesesniffer69 is indicative of Tom being an informant.

 

[AmandaReckonwith]

Disagree. Tom is "the life of the party" and Mr. Popularity. It could explain why he put himself into a crowd of people he didn't know that fateful Friday night. Did he regularly hang out with JW? No it appears he didn't. But JW was the one kid that could get him down to the trap to hang out with kids he didn't know.. Was he trying to make an "in" with a crowd he didn't know very well? Seems certain. Why?

A month ago, I would have said 'ridiculous' but now I am thinking 'maybe so'.

My opinion of Andrew Sadeks case, the same. After reading the CI article (ty MN-MOM) it seems 90% sure to me.

There are a lot of bad ideas in LE and I am generally a supporter of LE. But I do know firsthand that some of them are dlcks.

 

[IBsleuthin]

Maybe this helps:

http://www.bismarckstate.edu/uploads\resources\358\alcoholandillegaldrugs.pdf

 

[ATasteOfHoney]

I really struggle with this. I can understand that this is an open case with a whole lot of questions and basically no answers so people are trying to consider every angle, but it will only lead to confusion even considering something like that name. Someone mentioned that it sounds like a stupid name that a teenager would come up with...because it is. Cheesesniffer69? Are you kidding me? How could that possibly allude to some sort of deeper meaning? It's the name of an XBOX gaming profile and he clearly was trying to come up with something funny. It has 69 in the name, I mean come on.

As far as heroin goes, I do know that it's a fairly sizable problem in MN. Nothing that a teenager from the St. Cloud area would be getting into, but a problem nonetheless.

Edit: Shoot, I was trying to quote everything. This quoting thing is lost on me.

Edit: Not perfect, but that's a little better.

It's very simple, raider......kids speak in slang a lot. Check out their tweets. No one is accusing anyone of anything here but we're just tossing around terms that have been tweeted or suggested. Otherwise this is a cold case with zero POI's and zero justice which doesn't sit well with long term (& hard sleuthing) WS-ers.
In the slang world, "cheese" is associated with a "rat"....probably cause rats eat cheese. "Cheese" is also associated with Mexican hero*n which is fairly prevalent to kids in our society, sad to say.

I hope this helps.

 

[ATasteOfHoney]

Prayers for the family of TB

 

[guest user]

So who does the # belong to?

For me it's a rhetorical question (winky winky) but you'd think it would've been addressed in the LE statements a long time ago. It was the final tweet.

Try using this link to for the number.

http://www.privacystar.com/

I got different a result than what was posted in the first thread. I just didn't want to post it here. If it's legit, it helps to understand the reason why the number is included, but not the content or meaning behind the tweet itself.

 

[raider]

It's very simple, raider......kids speak in slang a lot. Check out their tweets. No one is accusing anyone of anything here but we're just tossing around terms that have been tweeted or suggested. Otherwise this is a cold case with zero POI's and zero justice which doesn't sit well with long term (& hard sleuthing) WS-ers.
In the slang world, "cheese" is associated with a "rat"....probably cause rats eat cheese. "Cheese" is also associated with Mexican hero*n which is fairly prevalent to kids in our society, sad to say.

I hope this helps.

I completely understand where you're coming from and as I said before, I understand the need to consider every angle. It's just, being a recent grad I'm all too familiar with the excessive slang use and am simply trying to help translate. I mean absolutely no offense by this, but a lot of times when middle-aged and older persons see the slang that younger people use they tend to take it too literally when it can be used in jest or satirically. So something likely innocent like "trap" literally looks like "drug house".

Just trying to trim some fat.