GRANITE FALLS, Minn. — Two burglary suspects are in custody after a homeowner’s security system alerted him last week that a vehicle was in the driveway of his rural home while his 12-year-old son was home alone.
But the homeowner was Yellow Medicine County Sheriff Bill Flaten, who hopped into his squad car, contacted his son en route and, shortly afterward, took the suspects into custody.
Michael Allen Chenoweth, 36, of Springfield, and Ashley Dawn Schultz, 29, of Marshall, were being held in the Yellow Medicine County Jail.
According to allegations in a criminal complaint, Flaten was at the sheriff’s office at 9:38 a.m. Wednesday when he received notification from an application on his cellphone that his home camera detected activity in the driveway of his home outside of Granite Falls. The phone showed a silver vehicle in his driveway and a male with a hoodie walking up to his front door.
The sheriff contacted his son, who peeked out a window and confirmed that a car was there. The sheriff watched on his phone as a male and a female walked out of his detached garage with armloads of stuff back to the car. His son texted the car’s direction, leading his father toward the suspects and eventual arrest at gunpoint.
The two were taken into custody with the help of Chief Deputy Wayne DeBlieck and Granite Falls Police Chief Brian Struffert, who also had reached the site.
In the suspects’ car, the officers found a variety of Dewalt power tools and battery charger, a game camera, a depth finder and other items, some with the name “Flaten’’ inscribed on them and all missing from the sheriff’s garage, according to details in the complaint. Also found in the car was drug paraphernalia including a syringe, digital scale, glass pipe and powdery residue all believed to belong to the suspects.
When taken into custody, Chenoweth had a folding knife clipped to his front pants pocket, and a fixed-blade knife and sheath tied to his belt. A knife was located on Schultz when she was booked into the jail.
Both suspects are charged in Yellow Medicine County District Court with felony counts of first- and third-degree burglary.
The court on Thursday set bail at $150,000 unconditional and $100,000 with conditions for Chenoweth and at $150,000 unconditional and $75,000 with conditions for Schultz.
