Cliff Buchan
News Editor

A small fire in the girlís locker room on Monday led to a full evacuation of Southwest Junior High School, 943 SW 9th Ave.

City police officer Scott Graff, one of the first emergency personnel on the scene at 8:14 a.m., found a small box of clothes on fire in the locker room and smoke in the building, said Chief of Police Clark Quiring.

The officer used a fire extinguisher to knock down the flames and placed the box under a locker room shower to make sure it was fully out.

Students and staff were allowed back in the building in short order, Quiring said.

Forest Lake Fire Department responded to the call and is continuing the investigation of the school incident, police said.

Matrix in action

The Forest Lake police canine unit was called into action twice on Friday, Oct. 14.

Officer Mark Richert and Matrix assisted Wyoming Police Department for a possible residential burglary report and later were called to a Forest Lake address to assist with a drug search warrant.

The canine team was called in by the Washington County Narcotics Task Force that executed a search warrant at a home on Harrow Ave. N. where the dog helped locate a bag of marijuana, a pipe and a small amount of methamphetamine.

Charges are pending in the case at the county level.

Other reports

In other reports to Forest Lake police, officers here are:

ïInvestigating a report of the theft of a 1998 white Cadillac overnight on Thursday, Oct. 13 from a home in the 900 block of SE 11th Ave.

ïInvestigating the theft of a mini DV camera, charging unit and black bag with value of approximately $500 from a classroom at Forest Lake High School, 6101 Scandia Trail N., on Oct. 14.

ïPlaced a 42-year-old Forest Lake woman under a 72-hour hospital hold after two incidents in the past two weeks where the woman threatened suicide and arson of her home and was investigated for reckless driving on TH-97 east of US-61 where the woman was reported intentionally swerving in and out of oncoming traffic before returning to her home on N. 210th St.

ïContinuing their investigation of a series of thefts and purse snatching crimes that has expanded to Princeton, Cambridge and Coon Rapids. Jamie Lee Carpentier, 24, Stacy, remains in the Washington County Jail in Stillwater on charges of theft and financial transaction card fraud while an accomplice, Richard Donald Allen, 38, Cambridge, is in jail on felony assault after their arrests at Wal-Mart, 200 SW 12th St. on Monday, Oct. 10.

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Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605