Man guilty of murder during plot using 3 fake cops to rob Isanti County drug house

An Isanti County judge has convicted a man of a murder that prosecutors said occurred after he directed three Twin Cities men dressed like police officers to rob a suspected drug stash house.

Fredy Saavedra Olivar, 41, of Northfield, was found guilty Thursday in District Court after a four-day trial of two counts each of second-degree murder and first-degree burglary in connection with the killing on Dec. 13, 2023, of 42-year-old Jose De Jesus Diaz Fernandes at a ranch about 7 miles east of Princeton.

Saavedra Olivar remains jailed ahead of sentencing, which is scheduled for Jan. 17.

Also charged with the same counts for their alleged roles in the conspiracy are three men from St. Paul: Abraham Alexander Houle, 42; Jesse Mateo Rodrigues, 44; and Jerold Allen Downs, 46. All remain in custody and have court appearances scheduled for early next year.

Prosecutors said that Saavedra Olivar provided the men with a gun, drugs and the ranch’s address, then coordinated with them by phone moments before the crime and the subsequent shooting of Diaz Fernandes. Four other people, including a 1-year-old, were in the ranch’s residence at the time.

“One of the intruders shot [Diaz Fernandes],” the criminal complaints read, without specifying which man pulled the trigger.

According to the complaints:

One of the people in the residence said he had moved from California two months earlier to care for Diaz Fernandes’ horses. He said he was awakened between 5 and 5:30 a.m. to the sound of the front door being kicked in. He saw a man dressed as a police officer enter his bedroom.

While the intruder, later identified as Mateo Rodrigues, was trying to tie up the man at gunpoint, a shot rang out from upstairs. Mateo Rodrigues fled the bedroom.

Law enforcement investigators found Downs’ cellphone, $55,700 in cash and “other items indicative of drug distribution” at the residence, one of the complaints read.

After his arrest, Downs told investigators that the plan was to “fake rob” the stash house, where there was supposed to be a large amount of methamphetamine and $1 million in cash. Downs said Diaz Fernandes was supposed to leave the back door and the barn unlocked but also kick in the front door to make it look like a robbery.

After the door was kicked in, Diaz Fernandes came out from an upstairs bedroom shooting, and someone described in the complaints only as “the other guy” went downstairs. Houle was shot as he and Downs fled. Downs said it was “the other guy” who shot Diaz Fernandes and then fled out a downstairs window.