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A South Dakota man investigators say is linked through DNA evidence on a cigarette butt to a 2016 riot at a Dakota Access Pipeline construction site turned himself in and made his initial court appearance Tuesday in Morton County. He'll remain free as his court case proceeds.

Lawrence Malcolm Jr., 23, of Sisseton, S.D., was informed of the charges against him, which include felony criminal mischief and misdemeanor engaging in a riot. He appeared via video link from the Burleigh Morton Detention Center, where he turned himself in early Tuesday on the advice of his attorney, Bruce Nestor of Minneapolis, who was not in the courtroom.

Authorities filed charges against Malcolm in early September, after North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents were informed by the State Crime Lab in August that DNA from a cigarette butt found at the scene of a 2016 protest was a match for Malcolm. His DNA was on file from a previous arrest.

Protesters caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage to construction equipment at the September 2016 riot, a BCI affidavit says.