WINONA, Minn. — A Winona man was found in the basement of the St. Stanislaus Basilica by police responding to an alarm trigger. They arrested Joseph Allan Peaslee, 31, and booked him for burglary. This was about 11:50 p.m. Police said Peaslee was hiding in a corner behind a door. He fessed up to having been in the landmark East Fourth Street church 12 hours – and that he had scrounged and eaten an eight-pack of wieners, helped himself to communion wine, and damaged an alarm system in an attempt to turn it off. There also was disarray, police said. Peaselee was charged under a state statute that explicitly protects churches.
Peaslee. His explanation for after-hours church visit didn’t wash with police.