Stillwater Police: Cemetery Vandals Caught, Woman Reports Strange Message From Faux-Mustached Man

The following police blotter is compiled from Stillwater police reports and subsequent interviews with the Stillwater Police Department. 

Police Calls: 

Saturday, Aug. 13:

• A May township woman was approached by a man with a stringy fake mustache in the parking lot while she was in her car. The man put a napkin up to her car window with the words “sex time” and a phone number. The woman felt uncomfortable and left the parking lot. A Cub Foods employee had seen the man with two other men buying snacks. The employee heard them say they were going to the Apple River. A Party city employee also saw the men in the party supply store buying wigs and fake mustaches. One of the men left his name and number with the store manager. When the phone number was called, no one answered and the voicemail was not set up on the account.

• A laptop and a wallet were reported missing. The items were valued at $450. The individual was attending a wedding at the gazebo downtown and left his laptop bag unattended. When he returned after the wedding, the bag was gone.

Sunday, Aug. 14:

Officers responded to complaints of a man vandalizing headstones in Fairview Cemetery late Sunday night. When officers arrived, they found an 18- year-old Oak Park heights man smelling of alcohol. The man told officers he did not damage anything. When officers searched his backpack, they found a container of marijuana, a scale, a marijuana pipe and a grinder. A 17-year-old boy then approached officers and was allegedly very belligerent. He told officers he was the one that pushed the headstones over and the other man had nothing to do with it. The juvenile was then detained for being belligerent.

A 14-year-old girl approached the officers and allegedly became confrontational. She started to yell at the officers, stating that the boys were her friends and the officers should not be arresting them. When asked if she had anything to do with the headstones, she said no. The officers told her to walk away from the scene. The girl obliged and left on foot.

The 18-year-old man’s blood alcohol content was measured at .032 and the other male’s was measured at .10, the police report stated. While the two men were being tested, the juvenile girl came back to the scene yelling at one of the officers using profanities, stating she should be arrested because it was “___ bull ___” that her friends were being arrested, according to the police report.

Another officer reported the girl yelling, "I've been drinking, take me to jail, take me to jail." The girl was then detained and her blood alcohol content was a .13, the police report stated. Both juveniles remained very belligerent and aggressive in the back of the squad car, the report added.

The witness told officers she only saw one male party pushing over a large pillar style headstone cracking and damaging the headstone. The witness’s description of the vandal matched the juvenile boy. The boy was observed pushing over headstones and making aggressive motions with his arms and hands, almost to the extent of where he was hitting himself after tipping over the headstones, the police report stated.

While detained, the juvenile boy kept asking where his backpack was and why he can’t get his weed back. When was asked how many headstones he had pushed over he said two to three headstones, the report said. The juvenile boy refused to provide a recorded statement and remained belligerent. The juvenile’s mother arrived on scene at this time and was released to his mother pending formal charges.

The juvenile boy later returned to the scene by himself and confronted the officers about his backpack and he wanted his “weed” back, the report stated. He became very aggressive and remained very belligerent towards the officer. The teen was then booked and released on felony criminal damage to property, illegal molestation of a cemetery, underage consumption and disorderly conduct.

The juvenile girl was transported to Harbor Shelter in Hastings after her father refused to pick her up.

Officers found three headstones pushed over and slightly damaged. Damages are estimated at $1,000.   

In other Sunday police news:

• A man in his mid-thirties was seen walking naked up the street in Northland Avenue. The man was intoxicated and cited for disorderly conduct.

• Police were called to Brine’s on Main Street when a man reported that he was slapped by a woman. The woman told officers she slapped the man because he was making several unwanted advances toward her.

• A man and woman were having a verbal argument outside America’s Best Value Motel. When officers arrived the man had a black eye. He told officers he had been punched by his brother-in-law. The man denied medical attention. The officers told the man and woman to go back to their motel rooms.

• A vehicle was seen smashed into a pole in front of Lee Ann Chin’s. The vehicle was reported stolen and had heavy front end damage.

The preceding items were taken from theStillwater and Oak Park Heights police departments. In all incidents where an arrest occurred, a charge is merely an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. The arrested person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Incidents are listed in the order in which they were reported, not necessarily the order in which they occurred. When names are used, it indicates that felony charges have been filed in Washington County District Court.