ST. PETER — Investigator Marc Chadderdon has spent three decades at the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Office focusing on reducing sex trafficking, improving connections between law enforcement across southern Minnesota and advocating for victims of crime.
“I’m really thankful for all the support I’ve gotten from people over the years. I think people knew they could trust me when they came to me.”
After 30 years in law enforcement, 29 of them at the Sheriff’s Office and the last 17 years as an investigator, Chadderdon is retiring at the end of the month.
The 53-year-old, who lives in Nicollet, is eligible to take his full pension. His wife also works for the county.
“I’ll take a few months off and see what options are out there.”
He said some have asked him about running for political office and there are security jobs that would be available. But he said he just wants to take some time to consider different options and to maybe take an interest in something he hasn’t even considered doing.
Chadderdon said one of the things he’s most proud of is starting the Minnesota South Central Investigators Coalition in 2008. The group has provided training to thousands of officers and is a network to share information to assist in tracking and apprehending individuals involved in criminal activity in southern Minnesota.
“It will continue on after me. I’m really proud of it.”
He started the coalition after realizing a lot of law enforcement personnel across southern Minnesota talked to each other on the phone but didn’t really know each other.
“This puts a face to a name. We meet face to face and talk. A lot of criminals are doing the same things in different jurisdictions so we share information. And people are more likely to help you out if you call them and they know who you are and have met you.”
The group also holds joint training and shares equipment.
For years, Chadderdon was also a leader in focusing a light on sex trafficking. He organized public events to highlight the problem and was involved in stings that busted people looking to buy sex — often from people they thought were minors.
He said the pandemic forced law enforcement to largely end those stings and there is not as much effort being put into the effort across the state today as he’d like to see.
Jay Link, a welfare fraud investigator with Nicollet County and now president of the investigators coalition, said Chadderdon is well known and respected.
Link said Chadderdon’s idea to start the investigator coalition grew into a major force in southern Minnesota law enforcement.
“Marc is really big on sharing information with other agencies, and he thought we could do better at it. He said we should get people together to talk. It just exploded from there. We have 100 different agencies attend the annual conference we have,” Link said.
He said Chadderdon’s work on sex trafficking was important and he was recognized as a leader in the effort.
“A lot of people know Marc and respect him,” Link said. “He’s a great guy. He’s a mentor to many. It’ll be a loss to the law enforcement community when he leaves.”
Chadderdon said he’s always been interested in representing victims of crime.
“With the criminal justice system, if you’re a victim of a crime, whatever it is, and your case takes two or three years to work through court, that’s not justice. And it’s not justice for the person charged either.”
Chadderdon ran for sheriff of Nicollet County in 2022, challenging Sheriff Dave Lange. Lange won reelection with nearly 64% of the vote.
Chadderdon joined the National Guard at age 17 and went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He returned and graduated from Le Center High School. He attended Mankato State University while serving as a cannon crewman and truck driver for the National Guard in St. Peter.
In 1994 he joined the Le Center Police Department and followed by the Le Sueur County Sheriff’s Office and briefly as police chief in Cleveland.
In 1995 he joined the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Office, serving as a jailer/dispatcher, deputy and then as criminal investigator.