A multi-agency investigation of area burglaries resulted in the arrest of three suspects in Carlton County last week.
On Friday, April 6, Tyler Matthew Polo, 22, along with mother and son Ruth Norlund, 50, and Luke Norlund, 23, were each charged in Sixth District Court with felony third-degree burglary and two counts of felony theft/take/use/transfer movable property without consent.
Officers from the Cloquet and Hermantown police departments worked with the St. Louis and Carlton County sheriffs' offices to solve several of the recent burglary cases in the area.
Dan Danielson, an investigator with the Carlton County Sheriff's Office, said officers were tipped off after a pick-up truck was stolen from a home on St. Louis River Road in Esko.
"We've had a problem with people calling tow companies and saying they want to sell a car or truck, and telling them to come pick it up at a certain property, which they claim is theirs," Danielson said. "Allegedly Ms. Norlund called a tow driver to come to this property [on the St. Louis River Road], they negotiated a deal and he left with the truck."
ADVERTISEMENT
However, Danielson said, there were witnesses in this case who saw the tow truck leave with the pick-up, so law enforcement officials were able to track down and recover the truck from the unknowing tow truck driver.
According to the Tyler Polo search warrant - one of three search warrants executed in the joint investigation - once the tow truck driver was located, he supplied officers with the cell phone number used to contact him, along with a description of the woman whom he paid $200 for the truck. Although the woman had signed a different name - Nan Borhdahl - to the bill of sale, the cell phone was registered to a Jacob Norlund and had been mentioned in reports regarding Jacob, Luke and Ruth Norlund, all of Hermantown.
On April 4, a search of the Norlund's Solway Road residence in Hermantown turned up a number of stolen items from the St. Louis River Road burglary, including hand tools, power tools and electronic equipment, according to the search warrant application.
According to the search warrant, after searching the Norlund residence, officers learned that three other individuals - Tyler Polo, Brian Kinney and Jacob Kinney - had allegedly assisted with two different burglaries at the St. Louis River Road property.
A subsequent search of Polo's residence on Old Midway Road turned up a stolen ATV from the St. Louis River Road property as well as a number of items stolen from a home on Stark Road.
Darrin Berg, Cloquet police detective, was pleased with the results of the investigation.
"It was an enormous group effort that had really good end results," Berg said.
Cloquet Police Chief Wade Lamirande said many of the items that were recovered were returned to the victims of the recent burglaries, as well as a Milwaukee power tool that was stolen approximately two years ago.
ADVERTISEMENT
While officers did not find any items stolen from homes in central Cloquet during the Solway and Midway Road searches, Berg said Wednesday that one suspect in those burglaries is in custody and charges were pending as the Pine Journal went to press.
Polo, Ruth Norlund and Luke Norlund are each scheduled for their next Carlton County Court appearance Monday, April 16.
