The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

April 10, 2009

Men charged in thefts

Police also suspect men in string of burglaries

Police say they believe they have suspects for a string of thefts and burglaries ranging over 10 counties in Iowa and Minnesota after arresting two men in Albert Lea earlier this week.

Two 18-year-olds were charged Thursday, each with three felony counts involving burglary, in Mower County. The two, both on parole, are also suspects in a series of burglaries from businesses and thefts from cars in 10 counties on the Minnesota-Iowa border.

Justin Lee Roberts, of Wells, and Lee Thomas Huston, of Albert Lea and formerly of Kiester, were arrested Tuesday after their car broke down in Mower County. When deputies arrived they saw stolen property and burglary tools in the car, according to the criminal complaint.

The two are suspects in several burglaries and thefts in Faribault County that started in February. Most of the items stolen from 15 or 16 cars in Wells happened at night, according to Terry Campbell, an investigator in the Faribault County Sheriff’s Office.

“Most of the vehicles were unlocked, but when the cars were locked the windows were broken,” he explained. The burglaries included a variety of loose items from the cars, Campbell said.

During this same time nine businesses in Wells, Kiester, Bricelyn and other rural areas of Faribault County were broken into at night. Mostly cash was taken, he said.

In addition to the incidents in Faribault County, similar burglaries occurred in Waseca, Freeborn, Mower and Rock counties in Minnesota and five additional counties in Iowa.

According to the Mower County court administrator’s office in Austin, Roberts and Huston were charged with three felonies: bringing stolen goods into the state, receiving stolen property and possession of burglary or theft tools.

Roberts and Huston were two of six men charged last year in the burglary of 35 guns from a garage in Wells. Roberts was one of two charged with the actual burglary, while Huston and the others were charged with hiding the stolen guns in four different rural locations.

As a result of these charges, both men are on probation until 2011.

In the pending case, conditional bail was set Thursday for Huston at $5,000 and for Roberts at $3,000, with unconditional bail at $20,000 for both. As of Friday afternoon, both were Mower County prisoners, with Roberts in Austin and, because of space limitations, Huston in Mitchell County jail in Osage, Iowa.

Campbell said that all ten counties are coordinating their investigations and that Faribault and other counties could file charges later. The first hearing for the two men in Mower County is set for May 21.

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