South Dakota Man Busted in Iowa Burglary After Walking Near Scene
Getting away with a burglary relies primarily on getting away from the scene of the burglary. That part of the plan was missing from a South Dakota man's burglary attempt in Iowa.
According to NWestIowa.com, 41-year-old Ricky Lee Blekestad of Sioux Falls was arrested Tuesday, May 10 after an alleged burglary in northwest Iowa.
The first call came in at 2:20 in the morning when the Lyon County Sheriff's Office got a report of a burglary happening northwest of Larchwood. The suspect had been in the machine shed and taken some items. By the time law enforcement arrived, the suspect had taken off.
A little more than five hours later, the resident called them again to say that they had found a bicycle and bags in the grove bordering the farm place. A deputy found stolen tools from the shed in the bags, along with a glass jar of meth and a straw presumably used for snorting the drug.
Less than three hours after this discovery, the burglary getaway was completely foiled by the burglar himself. The farm resident called law enforcement again to report that the man they had seen walking around on a security camera was walking nearby at that exact moment, presumably looking for the stuff he left behind in the grove.
The same deputy that had been out there earlier returned with help from Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and spoke with Blekestad. He was arrested and admitted to stealing tools from the shed and that the meth and meth tools were his. For failing to make his getaway, he was arrested and charged with third-degree burglary, third-degree theft, first-offense trespassing, possession of burglar’s tools, first-offense possession of a controlled substance — methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia.