Recent Cloquet burglaries solved!

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• Cloquet Police seek leads in local burglaries

Three men were arrested Wednesday morning after they admitted involvement in several burglaries around the Cloquet area, including one at Surplus Depot last week. A fourth man admitted involvement in last week’s break-ins at a subsequent interview late yesterday, according to Cloquet Detective Darrin Berg.

Law enforcement got a lucky break in the case when a Minnesota State Patrol officer stopped a vehicle with three men inside at 4 a.m. Wednesday, after the Carlton Self-Serve gas station in Carlton had been burglarized.

“He noticed shards of glass on at least one of the men’s shoes and saw what could be burglary tools in the vehicle,” Berg said.

Carlton County Sheriff’s officers then arrived at the scene and after interviews, the men allegedly admitted to burglarizing Johanson Electric and Surplus Depot last Tuesday, The Medicine Shoppe this Tuesday, and the gas station.

Three of the men are in custody and all four will be charged with felony-level crimes, Berg said. The Pine Journal does not name suspects until they have been charged.

Officers are still investigating, although they have recovered many items stolen from Surplus Depot.

“The men, who are 19 and 20 years old, have been very cooperative,” Berg said.

Two of the men are from Superior, one is from Cloquet and one is from St. Paul.

Berg also said officers this week solved burglaries from two years ago, including one at the Fond du Lac Conservation building. Five guns were stolen in that break-in and through finding one of the weapons, officers were able to find a suspect, who admitted that he and a counterpart had committed that burglary and several others in that timeframe.

“They admitted to burglaries two years ago at Sunnyside Liquor, Kendahl Miniature Golf, Eskomo Pies, the Esko Self-Serve gas station and Julie’s Cafe on Cloquet Avenue.

The men were juveniles at the time and will likely be charged as juveniles, Berg said.

“Solving these crimes was truly a joint effort,” he said.

Tags: cloquet, burglaries, solved, cloquet, police