Teen Charged With Climbing the Tallest Structure in Duluth

A teen in Minnesota has been charged after he climbed the tallest structure in Duluth and caused disruptions to several critical commutations systems.

The incident happened last Friday, November 1st, just before 5 PM, Duluth Police were called to WDIO-TV, which is located on Observation Rd., about someone climbing their broadcasting tower.

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Police arrived on the scene and identified the climber as 19-year-old Jed Grove Lovejoy of Superior, WI, he was ordered by officers on the scene to immediately stop his climb and return to the ground, he did not, he kept climbing.

His continued ascent of the tower forced engineers to turn off transmissions of TV and radio broadcasts, plus critical communications used by the Canadian National Railroad and the national Emergency Broadcast System.

The St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office also arrived on the scene and deployed a drone that they used to communicate with Lovejoy as he continued his climb to the top of the 838-foot tower, making it the tallest structure in Duluth.

Reports from people on the scene claim that Lovejoy also climbed the tower the week before, but was never spotted, and his latest cover photo on Facebook backs up this claim. On October 26th, he posted a panoramic photo of the Twin Ports from what appears to be the top of the WDIO-TV tower.

Lovejoy now faces some serious charges, according to MNCrime.com, he has been charged with "gross misdemeanor charge of trespassing on a critical public service facility, carrying a potential sentence of up to 364 days in jail and a $3,000 fine."