STEWARTVILLE, Minn. – Authorities were scratching their heads at what appeared at one level to be a bungled daytime house burglary. Or was it more? Like a subtle threat with a not-so-subtle sledgehammer meant to leave a message. Not much made sense. Deputies knew for sure: A 15-year-old girl who was home alone in the 2100 block of Sonke Lane Northwest said she heard someone trying to break into the attached garage about 12:30 p.m. She called 911. Deputies realized that the girl’s father had called earlier in the day to report a man had threatened to assault him with a sledgehammer. On arriving at the house in response to the girl’s call, deputies found a sledgehammer near a door to the the garage. Could the “burglar” still be in the neighborhood? They began looking. A few blocks they found the man who had made he sledgehammer threat the day before. He was skateboarding. They also found he had two knives, a baseball bat, handcuffs, duct tape, and a boxcutter. They arrested the man, a 39-year-ols from Rochester. The girl’s father said the man had been harassing him online and threatened to come to his house and party, whatever that meant. The father explained that man apparently was upset about a car he had purchased from the father. What do authorities do? Stay tuned.
