Does this jewelry belong to you? Suspect can't recall the house - Post-Bulletin
STEWARTVILLE — A 34-year-old man is behind bars while authorities search for one of his burglary victims, officials said Friday.
The case began about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, when deputies with the Olmsted County Sheriff's Office were called to the 700 block of Reichels Circle Northeast, Stewartville, for a report of a suspicious person.
The caller said the person seemed "out of it," and was sitting in her front yard.
At the scene was Sean Francis Jacobson, 34, who admitted he had a large number of coins in his backpack, said Capt. Scott Behrns. The report described Jacobson as "shaking, nervous and extremely talkative," but officers had no reason to detain him. He told them he was staying at a Stewartville hotel, and left on foot.
Something about the story — specifically, the fact that the man was carrying several pounds of coins — didn't sit right with the deputies, Behrns said, so they began to knock on doors in the area.
They spoke with a homeowner in the 500 block of Seventh Street Northeast who, after hearing the deputies' explanation, realized his containers of loose change — almost $1,000 worth — were empty.
Deputies went to the hotel and confronted Jacobson. He allegedly admitted to burglarizing two homes, including the one with the loose change.
In addition to the coins, deputies recovered several pieces of jewelry, Behrns said; Jacobson couldn't remember which houses he'd entered, but agreed it was in the area where he was first spotted.
"The patrol guys did a really good job to follow up," Behrns said. "We just need to take it a step further and get this jewelry back to its owner."
Jacobson was charged Friday morning in Olmsted County District Court with two felony counts of second-degree burglary. Conditional bond was set at $10,000; he's due back in court Sept. 28.
