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Cliff Buchan
News Editor
A cell phone use issue that led to the theft of a personal item from the office of a dean at Forest Lake High School is in the process of being resolved.
Forest Lake police are investigating the issue from Thursday, April 24 when a dean reported the theft of a 20-ounce personalized Coke bottle that contained a photo of the dean and the dean’s dog.
The item was taken after the dean addressed a discipline issue involving a students’s cell phone use during school.
The student met with the dean who returned the phone which had been taken by the student’s teacher. A short while later, the dean reported that the Coke bottle was missing.
Police said that after the item was taken from the dean’s office, school officials confiscated the student’s phone and reviewed text messages.
Messages on the phone implicated the student in the theft, police said. Such searches are allowed under school policy, police said.
Police said the student was suspended for five days. The penalty will be reduced to three days if the Coke item is returned to the dean.
Fire probe continues
Officials in Forest Lake have yet to determine what may have caused a home in Forest Lake to burn to the ground last week.
Forest Lake Fire & Rescue was called to 8530 North Shore Trail at 4 a.m., Thursday, April 24 after a neighbor saw the fire, Fire Chief Gary Sigfrinius said.
A state fire marshal was on scene last Thursday and investigators for the Forest Lake Police Department are also looking into the fire. Sigfrinius labeled the circumstances of the fire as “suspicious,” but said finding out how the fire started may be difficult to determine based on the level of damage.
Sigfrinius said he was told that the home was a rental property but he was unsure if the dwelling had been occupied in recent days. The home is reportedly owned by Christopher Gaiovnik.
Quick action by Forest Lake firefighters saved the home to the west, although the dwelling received extensive siding damage.
Youth hurt in fall from window is OK
A two-year-old Forest Lake boy is recovering after falling 12-14 feet from a second story window on Wednesday, April 23.
Chief of Police Clark Quiring said officers responded to a medical call at 4:48 p.m. to 22322 Elston Ave. N. where the youth had fallen. The police chief said the boy fell from a second story window after a screen apparently gave way.
The boy landed on a partial concrete patio. North Air Care air lifted the boy to a metro area hospital where he was treated for two small skull fractures and released the next day, the chief said.
The boy was at the home with a babysitter when the accident happened.
Fatal crash
A Scandia man was killed in a motorcycle crash in Scandia on Sunday, April 20. Shawn D. Spjut, 47, died as a result of injuries from a crash at 8:30 p.m. on Manning Trail N, about one mile north of TH-97.
Spjut apparently lost control of his cycle which ran off the road. He died at a Minneapolis hospital later in the evening.
Other reports
In other crimes, police here:
•Arrested a Forest Lake man on outstanding warrants after acting on information collected by police on Monday.
Richard G. Lehman, Jr., 41, 833 SW 7th Ave., was arrested on warrants of giving false information and driving after revocation in Washington County and a predatory offender registration violation warrant in Pine County.
•Detained a 19-year-old Scandia man on a 72-hour medical hold on Sunday evening after the man’s friend reported to police that he was suicidal. The man was taken into custody from a room at Country Inn & Suites, 1954 W. Broadway Ave.
Police recovered an AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifle and ammo from the man’s car which was turned over to the man’s relatives.
The subject was taken by North Ambulance to Regions Hospital, St. Paul.
•Cautioned residents to not leave personal items in vehicles after receiving two more reports of thefts from vehicles. At 6 p.m. on Sunday, police received two reports where vehicles in the Lake 5 Theatre parking lot, 1480 S. Lake St., had windows smashed out and purses taken.
Along with the purses, credit cards, check books, wallets, gift cards and other forms of identification were taken.
A laptop computer and a cell phone also turned up missing.
The chief said police have received a number of similar calls and believe thieves are targeting areas like shopping malls and church parking lots where valuables are being left in vehicles.
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