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Lawmakers look to stop large smash and grab thefts
Legislature looking to impose harsher penalties for orchestrated thefts involving two or more suspects aiming to resell stolen goods.
ST PAUL, Minn. — This may be the year lawmakers pass a bill cracking down on organized retail theft, putting harsher penalties into the state law for orchestrated crimes that rise above simple shoplifting.
The legislation is aimed at groups of two or more thieves who go into a store with the intent of stealing items for resale, and may already have buyers lined up for the item through clandestine stolen property fencing rings.
“There’s a different type of enterprise out there, a retail theft enterprise,” Bruce Nustad of the Minnesota Retailers Association told Capitol reporters Monday at a press conference to draw attention to the bill.
The most recent incident occurred Friday night at a Target store in the city of North Saint Paul. Several young men entered the store while it was still open to the public and used a sledgehammer to break display cases to steal electronics.
Two of the have been arrested, but others were still at large as of Monday evening.
“This bill is really just a great effort to separate petty theft — theft that might be done by a family in desperate times — from true criminal activity,” Nustad explained.
“It all comes down to what is the intent of that crime.”
Nustad’s organization and others have been working for the past five years to make organized retail theft its own category of crime with more serious consequences for those convicted. He said 34 states have already enacted similar laws.
In the House, the bill’s being carried by Rep. Zack Stephenson, a Coon Rapids Democrat who works as a prosecutor outside of the legislative session.
“I’ve seen this happen and start to gain momentum and evolve over the last few years,” Rep. Stephenson remarked.
“I’ve seen more and more cases where there are elements of sophistication. It’s very different from someone who’s just taking a crime of opportunity in a retail store, or a one-off case. When you have that enterprise level of sophistication.”
The bill sets a range of charges and prison time, depending on the value of the stolen goods and the offender’s prior record. A maximum of 15 years in prison is being proposed for someone who takes more than $5,000 worth of goods as part of an organized retail theft operation.
The lead author in the Senate is Sen. Ron Latz, a St. Louis Park Democrat who works as a criminal defense lawyer away from his Capitol duties.
“The stuff that gets taken gets moved very quickly. The channels are in operation,” Sen. Latz explained.
“The ones where it’s organized at some level, people are collaborating. They’ve got a business, really, operating to do this.”
The large smash-and-grab events at big box retailers captured on surveillance video make for a lot of headlines and clicks on social media sites. But most of the victims of organized retail theft are small businesses who are ripped by via credit card fraud orchestrated in advance through sophisticated schemes.
“The true victims right now are actually the small retailers who actually cannot afford those losses,” Nustad said, citing the case of Walter Dillon, who owned KKG Kickz sneaker shop in Little Canada.
Dillon closed the store after several break-ins by groups of hooded men who acted quickly and clearly knew what they were looking for during the store invasion. Dillon testified in favor of the bill at a hearing in February, recalling that one of the burglaries took place while his wife was in labor with their baby boy.
The crash occurred at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday in Welcome, Minnesota after the bus driver failed to yield to the truck, which had the right-of-way.
WELCOME, Minn. — Nine students were injured Wednesday morning when a truck crashed into a bus in southern Minnesota.
The crash occurred at 8:15 a.m. in Welcome, Minnesota after the bus driver failed to yield to the truck, which had the right-of-way at the intersection of County Road 7 and 280th Street, according to the Redwood County Sheriff’s Office. In a press release, officials say the nine students sustained “minor injuries” and were transported to a nearby hospital.
The initial investigation indicates that the truck, an F550, was traveling north on County Road 7, while the bus, which was providing service to the Wabasso Public School District, was traveling east on 280th Street. The news release says the truck had the right-of-way at the intersection.
“We are grateful that no serious injuries happened to our students, the driver or the other driver, however, nine students were transported to area hospitals for follow-up treatment,” Superintendent Jon Fulton said in a letter to parents. “… The District and 4.0 bus transportation company is praying for a speedy recovery for the students and families involved.”
Several fans said this team has inspired them to pursue a career in sports.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Lynx is inspiring the next generation of athletes regardless of whether they win or lose.
Sophia Witkowski went to the game with her mother, Christy, to watch Game 3 of the WNBA Finals.
“For her to see all her idols it’s just so fun,” Christy said.
“I like it because women’s sports aren’t that popular. Now the WNBA is really popular,” Sophia said.
They weren’t the only mother-and-daughter duo at the game. Amanda Williams took her 10-year-old daughter Abby to watch.
“It’s really awesome to have my daughter here to see great role models from the team and the fact,” Amanda said.
“I think that it’s super cool that they get to do what they want to do, and they get paid for it too,” Abby said.
Maggie Niska with Her Next Play, a nonprofit working to empower the next generation of female leaders through sports, said their visibility is everything.
“I think it gives these girls someone to look up to, and it gives them something to aspire to, and by having them in the community it makes seem a little more reachable too,” Niska said.
She said the Lynx Academy put on a basketball clinic for some of her girls in Hopkins Tuesday night. Niska said all of the professional women’s sports teams in Minnesota show girls they can have a future in sports.
“I just think that any visibility these girls can get to women competing at sports at a higher level, hearing these women speak, and seeing them succeed, and getting insight into their lives and what they do to compete at this higher level, I think all of that serves as a great inspiration to these girls,” she said.
It’s something Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve understands well.
“For young girls to see the opportunities for them to play in any sport and then also more in sport, jobs in sports that sports can be a career,” Reeve said.
Sophia Ritter and Taylor Tool drove hours to see the players in action.
“We traveled from Aberdeen, South Dakota and the Northern State women’s basketball team took two vans,” she said.
Ritter and Tool both said it was a cool opportunity for them to see two great teams play on the professional level.
“Growing up, WNBA wasn’t really a big a thing and something that everyone was watching and now that it’s growing it’s really nice to see,” Ritter said.
“It’s really fun seeing all the support and seeing how many people come to watch the games like it’s really cool to see all the fans in the stands filling up and it’s growing,” Tool said.
Gophers’ Shoot Guard Mara Braun went to the game with her team after practice.
“These women out here are just amazingly talented and they play with this toughness that I think we’re really trying to embody as a team,” Braun said.
She knows young girls are looking up to her and her teammates just like they are with the Lynx.
“Especially growing up, you know, you want to play college basketball, and the next level is WNBA or overseas or whatever it is, so for me this is obviously a dream and something I’m working towards to be able to see it,” she said.
Braun dreams of playing in the WNBA and watching the Lynx and the Liberty in the finals makes that dream feel like it could be her new reality.
The department is the only one in the state to start a non-fatal shooting unit that launched in January.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The City of St. Paul has seen a number of deadly shootings recently, but often it’s the ones that aren’t fatal that don’t get as much attention. And for police, they can also be harder to solve.
The department, though, is trying something new to try and reverse that trend.
“The amount of guns that are on the street right now,” St. Paul Police Commander Nikkole Peterson said about the biggest change she’s seen in the 22 years she’s been a cop. “It’s jaw-dropping.”
Commander Peterson is now in charge of the department’s non-fatal shooting unit that launched in January focusing only on those crimes.
It’s the only department in the state implementing something like that, after it saw success with the police department in Denver, Colorado doing something similar.
“If there’s a shooting, it doesn’t matter what time of night that happens or time of day, that sergeant will get called in to begin the investigation immediately,” said Commander Peterson.
The crime used to fall on the homicide unit that’s already burdened by heavy case loads. There’s also usually little victim cooperation which can stall solving non-fatal shootings.
“A lot of times we wouldn’t investigate it any further or the prosecutor wouldn’t charge those crimes and we knew that something different had to be done,” said Commander Peterson.
The unit is now treating non-fatal shootings like homicides and making them a priority. The investigators also rely more heavily on evidence and devote just as many resources, from forensics to video management and even SWAT teams.
“We are utilizing all these different resources to help solve these crimes,” said Commander Peterson. “We’re chasing down every lead that we can.”
In a press conference on Tuesday, St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry said there have been 86 non-fatal shootings compared to 99 this same time last year. But two years ago, there were 170, putting the city’s solve rate around 60%.
“Anything above 50% is just incredible and so we’re really happy with where we’re at right now,” said Commander Peterson.
Commander Peterson also credits the city’s ASPIRE program that focuses on intervention, particularly with youth. She also points to the Office of Neighborhood Safety that partners with local organizations working on prevention, saying this cooperation is ultimately what will reduce crime.
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