Oronoco Burglary Suspect Found Topless in Trunk of Car
Oronoco, MN (KROC-AM News) - A woman suspected of being involved in a number of burglaries in southeastern Minnesota was arrested yesterday after Olmsted County Deputies found her topless in the trunk of a car.
Olmsted County Sheriff’s Captain Scott Behrns says the unusual circumstances of 28-year-old Kirsten Hart’s arrest started when a husband and wife spotted her running out of their house when they returned to their rural home southeast of Oronoco late Thursday afternoon. The 73-year-old man reacted by jumping into his golf cart and attempted to follow the Byron woman into the woods adjacent to the family’s property. His wife chose to patrol the main road in the area and came upon Hart exiting the woods along 18th Avenue Northwest.
Behrns says the 64-year-old woman confronted Hart and two got into a scuffle that resulted in the younger woman losing her shirt. That’s when a passerby came upon the women, one now topless, fighting next to the roadway. When the man stopped and asked what was happening, Hart claimed she was being assaulted and the man offered her a ride.
One of the deputies responding to the couple’s call of a burglary in progress soon located the man’s car parked in a field driveway and pulled him over when he tried to drive off. After finding him alone in the passenger compartment, the officer asked about the woman he had picked up and Behrns says the deputies were informed that she was in the trunk of the car. The man explained that he became very uncomfortable over the situation he had found himself in and the topless woman suggested placing her in the trunk, which is where the deputies found her.
Captain Behrns says prescription drugs, including opioid painkillers, where stolen from the Oronoco area home, along with about $150 in cash and a fake $1 million bill. He says she was also found in possessing a small amount of heroin when she was processed into the Olmsted County Jail.
The Sheriff’s Office also reported the arrest of a known associate of Hart wanted for a recent break-in at a Rochester Charter School. Captain Behrns says investigators obtained information indicating 38-year-old Robert Felton could be found in the Pine Island cemetery. When deputies from both Goodhue and Olmsted County arrived at the scene they spotted him standing next to a car. Behrns says Felton attempted to flee on foot but was tackled by the deputies and taken into custody.
He is being held in the Olmsted County Jail on charges stemming from the theft of iPads from the school but is also expected to face charges in Goodhue County. According to Behrns, he and Hart have been “very active” in burglaries in this region.
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