Thanksgiving burglar pleads guilty to charge

Published 7:53 am Friday, December 9, 2011

A St. Cloud man who broke into an Austin home early Thanksgiving morning pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree burglary in Mower County District Court.

Taylor

Barry Taylor, 29, entered the guilty plea in court Thursday. One second-degree burglary charge was dismissed.

Taylor’s plea comes after a 16-year-old boy positively identified Taylor as the man who was in his living room Thanksgiving morning, according to court documents.

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According to a court complaint, police were called to the 600 block of First Ave. NW around 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving on a report of a burglary of an occupied residence. The 16-year-old in the house said he was in the basement when he heard loud banging noises upstairs. When he went upstairs to investigate, he saw a man standing in the living room.

The teen said the man fled when he saw him, the court complaint states.

A 32-year-old man who was also home at the time told police he had evicted someone a month earlier and thought the burglary might be retaliation for the eviction.

Police went to the 400 block of Fifth Place NW, where the man was apparently staying after the eviction, and found several men in an apartment. According to the court complaint, officers saw a man hurdle a piece of furniture and run to the back of the apartment when they knocked on the door.

When they spoke to the tenant, he was initially uncooperative, the complaint states. Officers obtained a search warrant around 6 a.m., though, and Taylor reportedly emerged from underneath the stairs when police went inside the apartment.

He is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 3, 2012.