MN DOC Tyler Janovsky
Tyler Janovsky is the Waseca, Minnesota wanted felon who is accused in the shooting of police officer Arik Matson, a married father and son of a police officer who was left gravely wounded.
Matson is described as a devoted police officer who serves in the DARE program, along with other duties. There is a GoFundMe page to help the officer and his family. Congressman Jim Hagedorn wrote in a statement that Matson is the son of retired Albert Lea Police Officer Tim Matson. “On behalf of all southern Minnesotans, I offered our deepest concerns and prayers for Arik and his family,” he wrote.
In contrast to the Matson family’s focus on public service, Janovsky, 37, has led a life of crime that includes alleged methamphetamine dealing, a naked burglary, and involvement in a strangulation murder.
The GoFundMe page to help Officer Matson and his family has raised more than $18,000, and you can access it here. Abbey Hullopeter, who organized the fund, wrote, “Last night Officer Arik Matson was shot in the line of duty. He is currently at North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale receiving urgent medical attention. Megan, Audrina, and Maklynn and the entire Matson Family need support during this hard time. We have set up this fund to help the family with medical expenses and everyday needs (Gas money, bills, groceries) while Arik is in the hospital. Any support and prayers are greatly appreciated. If you want to donate directly to the family, please contact me.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Authorities Say Matson & Other Officers Encountered Janovsky While Responding to a Suspicious Person Call
Arik Matson
The Waseca Police Department said in a news release that the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is investigating the officer involved shooting incident that happened January 6, 2020 “during which an officer and a suspect were shot. The incident happened after 8 p.m. tonight at a residence on the 900 block of 3rd Avenue Southeast in Waseca.”
The release says that Matson “has been taken by air ambulance to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale for treatment. The suspect in the shooting was also shot during the incident…Waseca police officers were responding to a disturbance at the residence when the incident occurred.” Officer Matson was shot in the head, authorities said.
BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in a press conference that he was extending deep thoughts and prayers to the officer’s family. Arik Matson was shot and “gravely injured” during the incident. He was in critical but stable condition on the day after the shooting. The suspect was arrested. He was 37 year old Tyler Robert Janovsky of Waseca. His injury was not life-threatening. Authorities said that the suspect had an active warrant for drug-related charges.
Shortly before 8 p.m., Waseca police responded to a call of a suspicious person in a backyard with a flashlight. Four officers responded. When officers arrived, they identified the suspect at a neighboring property, Evans said in the press conference. At one point during the encounter with him, Officer Matson was shot. Officers then shot Janovsky, who is wanted on meth charges and who has a violent criminal history.
2. Janovsky Was Wanted After Authorities Say They Discovered a Meth Lab in His Basement
Tyler Janovsky
Janovsky was recently in the news – on December 27, 2019. A story in the Mankato Free Press reported that Janovsky had recently been released from prison.
A Department of Corrections agent and Waseca Police Officer went to his residence to perform a probation check and allegedly discovered a meth lab in his basement in Waseca, the story reported.
Janovsky fled, but a search allegedly uncovered a gun, meth manufacturing materials, pills, and hallucinogenic mushrooms, the newspaper reported. A video on Janovsky’s cell phone allegedly showed him trying to make meth.
An obituary of his grandmother shows that Janovsky is from a family with long ties to Minnesota, especially Mankato and Waseca. Waseca is a community of about 9,000 people. It is the county seat in Waseca County.
3. Janovsky Has a Lengthy Criminal History Which Includes a Naked Home Burglary
Tyler Janovsky
According to Mankato Free Press, Janovsky spent time in prison for committing a home burglary while naked and was recently released in September 2019.
A woman reported that she found an incoherent Janovsky naked, struggling with her husband in their home basement. He threatened to hit the victim with an exercise weight. He allegedly said he didn’t remember the night before because he’d used meth. He was also accused of stealing a fishing boat, according to Mankato Free Press.
The Department of Corrections lists Janovsky as a wanted fugitive since December 13, 2019, and says he was sentenced in 2010 and released on September 23, 2019.
His state criminal history shows he has six prior convictions on his record, all felonies. His prior cases are for first-degree burglary, second degree drug possession, drugs 5th degree, drugs attempted manufacture of meth, drugs third degree, and threats of violence (terroristic threats.) He was booked into prison in 2017 for burglary and in 2010 for drugs.
He received 60 months for the burglary in Otter Tail County in 2017, but received credit for 246 days already served.
Heavy reached out to the Department of Corrections for an explanation of the sentence. The DOC spokeswoman responded with this explanation:
“He was NOT released early. Minnesota uses determinant sentencing. On 1/23/17, he was sentenced to 60 months, with custody credit of 246 days. On a 60-month executed sentence, a person must serve 40 months in confinement, and 20 months on supervision. The 246 days of custody credit is applied to the 40 months of confinement. So to calculate it, we start with the date of 1/23/17 and add the 40 months of confinement to get a release to supervision date of 5/23/20. To factor in his custody credit of 246 days, we count back from 5/23/20 by 246 days, arriving at a release to supervision date of Saturday, 9/21/19. DOC does not release offenders on weekends, so his actual release to supervision date was Monday, 9/23/19. I should add that these calculations are not done manually. Sentence Administrators use a sentencing calculator application, and every sentence is audited by a Sentence Auditor.”
He also received 100 months in prison for a drug conviction in 2010 in Benton County; 21 months in prison in Stearns County for drugs in 2009; 23 months in prison in 2007 for the previous meth case in Watonwan County; 31 months in prison for drugs in Stearns County in 2006; and 91 days in jail with a term of probation in 2001 for terroristic threats.
Court records show he was living in Fairbault, Minnesota at the time of the burglary conviction. Other charges, including assault, were dismissed in that case.
4. Janovsky Was Convicted in Connection With a Drug-Related Strangulation Murder Case
Tyler Janovsky in an old mugshot.
Janovsky was once convicted of being an accessory to a grisly strangulation murder, although he didn’t do the actual killing.
A court of appeals record in the case states that, on Thursday, August 2, 2001, Morgan Michael Schulz, his girlfriend, Megan Striemer, and Erica Boerner “drove from Fairmont to Waseca to meet Tyler Janovsky and Janovsky’s girlfriend Jamie Siem. These five individuals drove to Rickey Buker’s apartment building.” In this case, according to Mankato Free Press, Janovsky was convicted of being an accessory to second-degree murder. He had met Schulz in prison, the story says. Schultz received life in prison for the homicide.
A deadly chain of events had occurred.
“Although accounts of the witnesses varied, two individuals testified that Schulz wanted to purchase marijuana from Buker,” the records say. “Striemer testified that she heard Janovsky mention to Schulz that Buker might have a stack of money sitting on a table in his apartment (Buker had won a total of $200, paid in $1 bills, at bingo on the nights of July 25 and August 1). Janovsky noticed the stack of cash at Buker’s apartment during a social visit on July 29.”
According to the court records, “Schulz entered Buker’s apartment building alone. After approximately a half hour, wondering why Schulz was taking so long to return, Boerner and Striemer went into the apartment building and knocked on Buker’s door. Buker answered, but according to Boerner’s testimony, told them that Schulz was not there. After waiting a while longer in the car, Boerner, Striemer, Janovsky and Siem began driving around Waseca looking for Schulz. They found Schulz about a half hour later. Boerner testified that Schulz’s hand was bleeding when he got back in the car.”
The documents say that Buker was found “with a bathrobe tie wrapped twice around his neck and tied with a half-hitch knot. There was blood on the tie. A forensic pathologist from the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s office determined the cause of death to be asphyxia due to ligature strangulation.”
Schultz, who had a tattoo of the word “kill” on his stomach was accused of leaving a voicemail to someone saying, “Man, it’s Kill. Remember that robbery that I was talkin’ about? You know, where shit just gets crazy. Yeah, Kill lived up to his name. Ha!”
5. The Police Chief Described Matson’s Close Family Ties & Said He Has Worked on the Force Since 2013, Serving in a Drug Investigative Unit, Among Other Duties
Arik Matson with his wife.
Police Chief Penny Vought said that Matson has been with the Waseca PD since 2013 and is assigned to the patrol unit and drug investigative unit SWAT team. He is also a DARE officer. He is 32 years old. “He is a wonderful son, and a devoted husband, and father,” she said.
The GoFundMe page shared this photo of Officer Matson’s family:
Arik Matson with his wife and family.
People who have donated to the fund offered support and prayers. “We support our men and women in Blue and appreciate their sacrifice. Sending prayers for a full and speedy recovery,” wrote one. Hagedorn wrote that the officer is from Freeborn, Minnesota.
According to his wedding announcement, the officer married Megan Joyce in 2014. They married in Cancun, and the announcement says she was going to attend cosmetology school.
Deb Nygaard, a waitress at the Pheasant Café, told The Minneapolis Star-Tribune that “his wife and his two young kids would come in and wait for the daddy to come in for his lunch hour. Such a nice family.” The newspaper said that Matson is a well-known school resource officer in town.
A 2010 article in the Albert Lea Tribune described how Arik Matson and his dad were on patrol together. At the time, Tim Matson was an Albert Lea Police Cpl. Tim Matson and Arik was a new patrolman with the Freeborn County Sheriff’s Office. They “are working side by side during the night shift,” the article says.
The story says that Arik graduated from Albert Lea High School in 2006 and Minnesota State University-Mankato with a bachelor’s degree in law enforcement. Before college, he had an internship with the Albert Lea PD and participated in the police explorer’s program.
In that story, Arik attributed his interest in law enforcement to the family background. He previously had a security job for the Minnesota Vikings and a job in loss prevention. He initially worked in the Freeborn County jail.