Hastings 'Doughnuts' Case: 2 Men Charged

HASTINGS, MN — Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announced Friday that Edward Lee Mears, 26, and Asa Alden Soine, 27, of Hastings, have both been charged with one count of criminal damage to property in connection with damaging the soccer fields at the Veterans Athletic Complex in Hastings.

On the morning of March 25, Hastings police were called about extensive damage found at the soccer fields at the Veterans Athletic Complex. A vehicle had spun numerous "doughnuts" into the field, according to investigators.

Three soccer fields and two grass field areas were damaged in the process, police said.

The fields were wet and soft due to snowmelt and the tire tracks made the fields completely unusable. The damage was estimated at $137,000 to replace the sod, according to authorities.

There was also damage to a handicap parking sign at the complex, which appeared to have been run over by a vehicle, police said.

At approximately 12:19 a.m. Monday, a Dakota County Sheriff’s deputy stopped a Ford Explorer for suspected DWI. The registered owner and driver was identified as Asa Alden Soine, according to police.

A passenger was also in the vehicle, and was identified as Edward Lee Mears, according to a news release.

Soine was taken into custody as a result of the DWI incident, investigators said.

The deputy noticed at the time that the Explorer was covered in fresh mud that was dripping off the vehicle.

Police said video obtained from a business on the south side of the athletic complex shows a vehicle similar to Soine’s Explorer traveling on the road leading to the complex at 10:02 p.m. on March 24.

Surveillance video from another business on the north side of the complex showed a vehicle similar to Soine’s Explorer driving down a footpath away from the athletic complex at 11:40 p.m., approximately 40 minutes before Soine and Mears are stopped in the muddy Explorer by a Sheriff’s deputy, authorities said.

Police recovered a plastic piece from a Ford vehicle in one of the tracks located near the sign that had been damaged at the athletic complex. A search of Soine’s Explorer found a plastic piece missing from the the driver’s side wheel well which matched the one found at the athletic complex, according to investigators.

When questioned by police, Mears stated he was with Soine on March 24 in Soine’s Explorer when it got stuck in the mud and hit a sign at a different location other than the athletic complex, authorities said.

Soine told police that Mears left alone in his vehicle on March 24 and that when it was returned it had been washed, but still had mud on it, according to police.

Soine said he knew nothing about damage to the Explorer, authorities said.