Cook County Law Enforcement received a report of possible theft from a vacant building owned by Cliffs Mining in Schroeder on March 22, 2016. The former mining operation building has been shut down since 2001 so when a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency employee monitoring the site saw people in the area, he was suspicious.
Investigation by that individual and subsequent inspection by a Cliffs Mining staffer and sheriff deputies led to the discovery of a backpack full of tools and a bolt cutter at the scene. Investigators believed that the MPCA staffer had interrupted a burglary in progress. Because bags of wire remained on the property, law enforcement suspected that the individuals planned to return.
Surveillance cameras were set up and when a Cliffs employee reviewed the footage, he found images of two people entering the Schroeder property in the late hours of March 31 and April 1.
At about 10:46 p.m. on April 2, Sheriff Deputy Jesse Johnson was surveilling the property when he saw a large white van park nearby. He approached and noticed that the occupants were very similar to the people in the surveillance video. A search warrant was obtained and when the van was inspected, receipts were found from recycling centers for insulated wire, copper wire, and brass. Also found were hacksaws, headlamps and bolt cutters.
Deputies arrested Madison Rose Vail, 23, of Lindstrom and Alexander Gaiter Smith, 28, of St. Paul. They were both charged with burglary in the second degree while possessing burglary tools, burglary in the third degree, criminal damage to property in the first degree and felony receiving stolen property.
A general manager for Cliffs Mining estimated the damage, which included areas where control panels were removed and wires stripped and walls graffitied. He estimated that damage to the property at “thousands of dollars.”
Vail and Smith are scheduled to appear in Cook County court on April 25, 2016.
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