Arizona Man Identified Through Lake City Police Chase Accused of Burglarizing Pine Island Church
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- An Arizona man has been charged in connection to a church burglary reported in Olmsted County last year.
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The criminal complaint says investigators identified him as a suspect through a police chase that occurred several days before deputies responded to the church burglary.
The criminal complaint was filed in Olmsted County Court on Thursday.
Charges: Pine Island Church Burglar ID'D Through Lake City Police Chase, Stolen Vehicle Case
The Goodhue County Sheriff’s Office responded to the burglary at a church near the Olmsted-Goodhue County line south of Pine Island on the morning of July 2.
The church’s pastor reported $1,123 in cash was missing from one of the cabinets, the complaint says. Deputies learned of the church burglary while responding to the report of a recovered stolen vehicle in Pine Island.
The charges say the vehicle had been reported stolen out of Lake City and deputies found a shirt inside of it that matched the clothing of a pursuit suspect who successfully fled police in Lake City on the morning of June 28.
There was also a folder from the church’s cash cabinet inside of the stolen vehicle, according to the complaint.
The complaint identifies the pursuit and church burglary suspect as 31-year-old Benjamin Charles Johnson of Buckeye, AZ. He was arrested in late July in northwestern Iowa.
He’s facing a second-degree burglary charge in Olmsted County. He’s due to make his first court appearance in August.
