Rash of burglaries reported in Prior Lake

Prior Lake American

A string of overnight burglaries was reported on Highland Avenue and Skyline Avenue in Prior Lake Aug. 10-11.

Several televisions, laptops, a purse and a bag with clothes was reported as stolen from homes in the 15500 block of Highland Avenue, the 15500 block of Skyline Avenue and the 15600 block of Skyline Avenue while families were sleeping.

“Some of the homes were unlocked, so they came in through unlocked doors,” Prior Lake Police Chief Mark Elliott said. “We had one of the homes where there was a screen cut.

A Prior Lake police officer later made a traffic stop on Carriage Lane on a 22-year-old Brooklyn Center man and saw a television in the backseat with its cables cut.

“Nobody removes a TV that way unless they’re stealing it,” Elliott said.

The officer arrested the man, who had an outstanding Hennepin County warrant for theft. Police matched the television to the burglaries and obtained a search warrant for a home in Prior Lake, where some of the stolen property was recovered.

“We are trying to locate the rest of the stolen items,” Elliott said.

The man is a suspect in the burglaries, but his name has not been released because he hasn’t been charged because the case is still under investigation and waiting on lab results, Elliott said.

“At the time, he was in possession of a stolen item, but we don’t know he was the one who was in the house,” he said.

Elliott said the case is a “top priority” for the Prior Lake Police Department.

“It’s pretty unusual,” he said. “It’s not that often we have first-degree burglaries. Most of our burglaries happen when people aren’t home. We’re certainly concerned about it and making the investigation of that case a top priority for us.”

Elliott said that in addition to locking doors, limiting anonymity for a potential crime committer can make homes less likely targets. For instance, having an alarm system or lighting the area around the home.

“These are all pretty common-sense tactics that people are aware of, but sometimes people just become complacent in safety aspects and that complacency leads to opportunities for crime,” Elliott said.

The Prior Lake Police Department had been at 62 percent less burglaries year-to-date than 2017, but Elliott said the overnight burglaries “is going to put us up a little bit.”