Crime & Safety

Suspected Burglar Gets Caught After Returning Stolen Items

'I did something bad,' the woman told police.

A woman’s guilty conscience appears to have led to her arrest on suspicion of burglary last week.

On Wednesday, police received a report that a “heavy-set white female with reddish blond hair” got caught entering an apartment at 918 Ninth Ave. S., Police Sgt. Michael Glassberg wrote in charging documents filed Friday. The woman said she got confused and then left. Nothing was taken.

Shortly after receiving that report, officers got a call that a “heavy-set white female with ‘reddish’ hair” had dropped off suspected stolen property in the lobby of 912 Ninth Ave. S. The caller said the woman entered the building with an athletic bag, cooler and other property, placed the items on the floor and left.

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Officers found a laptop, DVD player and TCF Bank card among the items.

The caller directed police to nearby 906 Ninth Ave. S. and said the suspect had gone in there.

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Police contacted four women—including Carly Morgan Trangsrud, a 29-year-old Hopkins woman who matched the suspect’s description.

“(Trangsrud) admitted that she was the woman walking around the surrounding apartment buildings, put her head down, and admitted, ‘I did something bad,’” Glassberg wrote in the report.

Trangsrud, who had an outstanding warrant for a theft case, said she had taken property from other apartments but felt bad and tried to return the items, according to the charging documents.

The owner of the TCF Bank card confirmed that the property in the lobby was his.

The other women with Trangsrud said they’d allowed her to stay in their apartment. They said they were not surprised she’d stolen property—and that she’d stolen items in the past.

“(She) used to be normal,” the charging documents quoted one of the women. “Now she’s always using methadone and Xanex (sic). I see her popping pills all of the time!”

Prosecutors charged Trangsrud with second-degree burglary, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. She’s being held in Hennepin County jail on $60,000 bail for the burglary charge and $300 bail for the theft charge.

Officers continue to investigate other burglaries she admitted committing.

 

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