Officer spoke with a worker at the local business (Witness). Witness stated that a male had exited the store and made it past all points of sale with multiple stolen power tools. The power tools were recovered but the male had fled in a vehicle. The license plate of the vehicle was observed. The value of the power tools was approximately $1,600.00. Witness provided Officer a video depicting a portion of the theft. Officer watched the video. It depicted the male loading multiple boxed power tools into his shopping cart, removing spider wrap from them, and covering them with his jacket.
Officer contacted the registered owner of the vehicle the male had been driving when he fled. The registered owner stated that Joshua Wayne Smith, [DOB REDACTED] (Defendant) had possession of the vehicle. Officer looked up Defendant in law enforcement’s internal system and was able to locate a photograph of him. This photograph matched the male depicted in the video which Witness had shown Officer earlier. Officer also learned that Defendant has criminal history significant for prior theft type offenses.
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE: Pursuant to Minn. Stat. 609.49., intentional failure to appear for duly scheduled court appearances may result in additional criminal charges, and in addition to any arrest warrant that may otherwise be issued by the Court.
