Cliff Buchan
News EditorHaving one burglary in a year is bad enough, but the owners of Friar Tuckís in Forest Lake have been forced to deal with two incidents in the first week of the new year.
One man is in jail following an arrest on Jan. 1 after owner Brian Erzar confronted the suspect, but police have made no arrests in the second burglary that took place at 5:26 a.m., Sunday, Jan. 4.
In the second incident, police arrived to find a front window to the restaurant and bar smashed out. The pull-tab booth in the business was entered but the suspects were gone when police arrived.
A burglary suspect was not as lucky on Jan. 1 when the man came face-to-face with Erzar who was arriving at 8:33 a.m. to open for the day.
The man, who was wearing a mask, fled on foot to the north and west along the Hardwood Creek Trail.
Erzar chased the man on foot and called police on a cell phone.
At 5575 SW 11th Ave. near the intersection of Forest Road and 11th Ave., police arrested Jeffrey D. Reiter, 31, of 3220 81st St. E., Inver Grove Heights.
He has been charged with felony third-degree burglary and possession of burglary tools, Forest Lake police said.
Police said telephone lines to the building located at Photo World had been cut prior to the break-in at Friar Tuckís.
Sgt. Ron Hanegraaf said Reiter is being investigated for possible involvement with burglaries at Vannelliís Lakes Conoco, the Holiday Station on US-8 in Wyoming Township and the Dec. 30 burglary at Willows on the Water, 8241 North Shore Trail.
During the latter burglary, an east side window was smashed out with a hitch from a truck and cash from pull-tab boxes was taken.
Other crimes
In other police news, officers in Forest Lake:
ïAssisted the Pine County Sheriffís Office by holding and transporting Matthew B. Nelson, 20, of St. Paul, who was stopped here at 11:04 p.m. on Jan. 4 in connection with a truck that was reported missing in Pine County. Police here took Nelson to North Branch where he was delivered to a Pine County deputy.
He was found in the parking lot at McDonalds, 1244 W. Broadway Ave., and taken into custody without incident, police said.
ïReceived a report on Jan. 5 of the theft of an amplifier and two speakers valued at $550 from a car owned by a Little Canada man that had been left at Wally McCarthyís Chevrolet, 533 SW 19th St. for repairs just before Christmas.
ïReceived a report of vandalism to an auto and the theft of a purse from a vehicle in the parking lot at Perkins, 1155 W. Broadway Ave. on Jan. 4. The report was made by two women from Cable and Washburn, WI.
ïReceived a report of vandalism at Southwest Junior High School, 943 SW 9th Ave. where a maple tree on the southeast drive to the school had been knocked down by a vehicle. The tree, valued at $150 to $200, was one of three planted last spring in memory of the three Kluk children from Hugo who were killed in an auto crash on I-35 in December of 2002.
2003 police calls
Sgt. Hanegraaf said the Forest Lake Police Department closed out 2003 with a total of 12,785 calls.
That compares to the 2002 call total of 12,467 calls. The city police force handled 11,420 calls in 2001.
The calls from the past two years now include a number of initial complaint reports filed by Washington County when they involve a Forest Lake incident such as handgun permits.
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