Officers were alerted to the report of a theft from self-storage unit located at a facility in Apple Valley. During that investigation, officers discovered a theft from a separate storage unit belonging to Victim 1. Officers requested Victim 1 respond to his unit and determined that forty-five firearms that were stored in the unit, along with several other pieces of personal property had been taken. Officers obtained surveillance footage from outside of Victim 1’s storage unit on the evening on April 8, 2026, showing a vehicle registered to SAMANTHA JO BROOKS ([DOB redacted]) pull up to Victim 1’s unit at approximately 7:56 P.M. Surveillance video shows a male suspect exit the vehicle, enter Victim 1’s storage unit, and begin loading items into the vehicle.
The vehicle then leaves at approximately 10:20 P.M. Officers ran the vehicle through law enforcement databases and learned that a male, identified as Mark Anthony Smith, Jr., had several previous contacts with the vehicle. Through their investigation, officers learned that BROOKS rented a storage unit in the City of Inver Grove Heights, County of Dakota, State of Minnesota and that the vehicle used to commit the theft in Apple Valley was frequently at BROOKS’ storage unit. During surveillance of the unit, officers saw both BROOKS and Smith going into BROOKS’ unit as well as the suspect vehicle parked outside.
On April 22, 2026, officers executed a search warrant at BROOKS’ storage unit and found both BROOKS and Smith outside of the open storage unit. During a search of the property inside the unit, officers located thirteen firearms belonging to Victim 1.
