On April 30, 2025, the Baxter Police Department received a report of the theft of rental property from the Brainerd General Rental Center which is located in the City of Baxter, Crow Wing County, State of Minnesota. Baxter Police Officer Lasher spoke with an employee of the business who stated that on April 28, 2025, an adult female came into the rental center and rented a stump grinder, a 5x8 single axle trailer and two chainsaws. The stump grinder had a value of over $30,000.00 The driver's license used for the rental identified the female as SRG (fully identified in police reports). The female arrived at the rental center driving a 2009 Ford Expedition, MN Plate CSX-127. The vehicle was registered to Jenny Ly Trinh, [DOB REDACTED], hereinafter defendant.
The return date of the rented property in the contract was April 29, 2025, at 7:00. The rented property was not returned at that time. Staff at Brainerd Rental attempted to charge the bank account that was used in the rental and it was declined. They also attempted to run the credit card which was used in the rental and it was declined. Officer Casanova obtained a photo from Brainerd General Rental of the person renting the equipment on April 28 and compared it to a known photo of the defendant and observed they appeared to be the same person.
Officer Casanova noted the driver's license in the name of SRG used to rent the equipment appeared to be a fake ID. On April 30, 2025, law enforcement pinged the GPS tracker on the stump grinder and located it at a residential property in the City of Sartell. Law enforcement contacted the homeowner who stated he had hired a business called "Leaf Legends LLC" to do tree work on his property. The stump grinder belonged to them. Sartell Police Department Sgt. Frieler and Baxter Police Sgt. Sofie spoke with the owner of the business who was identified as AMM (fully identified in police reports). He stated he recently purchased the stump grinder, trailer and two chainsaws from a female named "Jen". He had hired "Jen" to do some sales for his business.
She asked if he was interested in purchasing the equipment. He gave her a down payment for the equipment and was going to give her the final payment after making sure the equipment was running well. On May 2, 2025, Officer Casanova talked to the defendant. She ultimately admitted that she drove to the Brainerd General Rental on April 28, 2025, and rented a stump grinder, trailer and two chain saws. She used a fake ID, bank account number and credit card in the application to rent the equipment. The defendant stated she did this at the request of a male named "rooster". Rooster told her once he sold the equipment he was going to give her $1,000. After renting the equipment, she left it in front of her house in the city of St. Cloud where rooster was going to pick it up.
