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BE man charged in Kaduce robbery

By Staff | Mar 2, 2009

A former employee of Kaduce Plumbing and Heating appeared in Faribault County District Court Mon-day in connection with two break-ins that occurred at the Winnebago business in September.

Jose Alfredo Martinez, 25, of Blue Earth faces four felony charges; receiving stolen property; two counts of third-degree burglary; and aiding an offender/accomplice after the fact.

County Attorney Brian Roverud says Winnebago police are continuing their investigation.

“Some names have been tossed around but no one has been charged,” says Roverud.

Martinez’s next court date will be an omnibus hearing on March 9.

He remains in custody in the county jail and bail has been set at $20,000 without conditions or $10,000 with conditions, and also is being held for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.

According to a court complaint, the burglaries occurred on Sept. 13 and 23 and more than $40,000 in tools and equipment were stolen.

The first time, the complaint says, there was no sign of forced entry, but during the second break-in the east door was kicked in.

The complaint says it appeared the burglars knew what they wanted and more than one person would be required to remove some of the items.

In all, 17 items were listed in the complaint as taken from the break-ins.

On Jan. 12, an owner of Kaduce Plumbing and Heating received a call from a person at a Mankato pawn shop who said he had seen a drill with Kaduce P & H written on the case. He said the drill was sold for $160, although it was worth about $6,000.

Later that day, the store owner went to the pawn shop to purchase the drill and told the person it had been stolen from his business in Winnebago.

The stolen property, says the complaint, was sold at two different pawn shops in Mankato on Sept. 13 and 30.

On Jan. 14 and 16 another individual told police he knew who had stolen the items from Kaduce, naming Martinez as one of the persons involved, says the complaint.

Martinez told police two other people talked about breaking into Kaduce Plumbing and asked him if he would help pawn the items.

Martinez faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $20,000 fine for receiving stolen property; five years and $10,000 for aiding an accomplice; and two-and-a-half years and $5,000 for each third-degree burglary charge.