The former Faribault County general foreman, Mark Adams, 59, of Winnebago, pled guilty to misdemeanor receiving stolen property last week during his arraignment in Faribault County District Court. The property that was stolen belonged to Faribault County.

The items taken by Adams were valued at less than $500 and were in complete or almost complete disrepair. However, Adams still acknowledged he took the items in question.

The agreement made between Adams and the state allowed Adams to receive a stay of adjudication. He will be on unsupervised probation for one year and will pay a $300 fine.

Police reports indicated the Faribault County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance in the investigation from the Nicollet County Sheriff’s Office regarding the employee back in January.

The investigation included installing a GPS tracker on the work vehicle of Adams for suspected time card issues.

As a result of the information that was learned in the employment investigation, Faribault County requested Nicollet County to assist in a separate criminal investigation relating to possible stolen Faribault County-owned property.

The property, according to police documentation, was in possession of Adams at the time of the report in mid-January. Investigators learned Adams had stolen a drag, a field pump, and a fuel tank.

Approximately one week following, investigators spoke with a retired Faribault County Highway employee. During the interview, the witness was asked about the drag that had possibly been stolen by Adams. The witness stated in police reports that it was, in fact, a box scraper that had been stolen.

The witness stated he was on a bike ride in 2015 and drove past Adams’ residence on Highway 169 and observed a box scraper sitting on Adams’ property and stated the box scraper “looked familiar.”

A later conversation between the witness and Adams revealed the box scraper would be returned to Faribault County property once the witness returned a rake owned by the county. Another witness later indicated the box scraper was on Adams’ property and that Adams had altered the box scraper to make it work on his own personal Bobcat skid steer loader.

The witness, according to police documentation, further stated Faribault County had anhydrous tanks that were converted into portable diesel fuel tanks which were placed throughout the county and further, these tanks had expensive fuel pumps on them. One pump from the Bricelyn shop had stopped working, according to the witness, so Adams and another employee attempted to fix the pump. A replacement pump was later purchased.

According to the witness in a police statement, the pump Adams and the other employee were fixing had been left on a workbench during the day and was gone by the evening. The witness questioned the other employee about the fuel pump and found Adams had stated he was going to take the pump.

The 100-gallon fuel tank attached to the fuel pump had also gone missing. According to a witness statement, the tank developed a leak in one of its corners and was removed from the back of a pickup where it was usually located. Ultimately the county purchased a new tank and the old tank sat there “until it disappeared,” according to police reports.

The witness told police there was other property that had been taken from the county. Other workers allegedly assumed Adams was the person taking the county property.

At the end of January, investigators spoke with two other witnesses to Adams’ thefts. Both witnesses stated they were aware a scraper was taken by Adams from the Faribault County Highway Department. Both allegedly witnessed the box scraper on Adams’ property. Witnesses also confirmed Adams had a fuel tank in the back of his farm truck.

Witnesses also stated other property taken included a road grader windshield that Adams wanted to give to another individual as a swap for the use of a chemical trailer by the county.

At the beginning of February, investigators met with Adams to conduct a?”complete, separate criminal investigation regarding the allegations of missing county property,” according to police reports.

Investigators asked Adams if he owned a box scraper to which Adams said he had owned one for 10 to 15 years. When investigators asked if the property was possibly that of Faribault County, Adams denied it.

When confronted with information of eyewitness accounts and photographic evidence of the property in question, Adams stated, “They can have it. It ain’t worth nothin.”

Adams told investigators he had purchased the box scraper in question, but could not prove it was his, stating “if it’s theirs, that’s fine. It’s not a big deal. I never use it. I’ll bring it back.”

Investigators also questioned Adams regarding the fuel tank, to which Adams responded it was basically junk and was in the back of his farm truck. Regarding the electric fuel pump, Adams replied,?”it’s on the tank.”

They further asked Adams if he had permission or if he ever asked anyone if he could take anything they had spoken about and Adams admitted he did not have permission, stating the things that he had nobody used and needed repairs.

Regarding the road grader windshield, Adams stated he did not have it and gave it away, informing investigators it was given to Weerts Construction. There was no remuneration for the windshield.

Investigators later made contact with Weerts Construction who said that Adams had given them a windshield and the county could pick up the windshield any time.

Adams later agreed to allow investigators to come to his residence in rural Winnebago to take back the county’s property. Both the fuel tank and the box scraper were then loaded onto a trailer by a county employee.

When investigators brought up the ownership of the box scraper again, Adams openly stated, “They can have it. It’s fine, it’s theirs.”

During the arraignment, county engineer Mark Daly made a victim impact statement.

His letter read, “Public Works only has 22 employees and we have an annual budget of $5.5 million. The County’s former general foreman, Mark Adams, had direct supervision of 15 employees and a budget of $2.8 million (half of the total budget.)

“The general foreman has a significant amount of authority and responsibility. He is the public works second in command and, in fact, my right-hand man. His job is to make sure the maintenance employees and budget are utilized efficiently. The person in this position must have the respect and trust of all county employees and the public.

The county engineer and general foreman are partners. There needs to be compete trust and respect for both sides of this partnership. All of the property which was in Mark’s possession has been returned to the Highway Department. What has not been returned is the damage to employee morale and broken trust which is a result of what happened.

While I do not think Mark should go to jail, I also do not want him to return to the Highway Department.”

It was confirmed in District Court that Adams had, indeed, been stripped of his position of general foreman.