By Matt Hudson

Owatonna People’s Press

BLOOMING PRAIRIE — Two people are in custody following an attempted burglary of a home outside of Blooming Prairie early Saturday morning.

Larry Gene Lester, 40, of Owatonna faces felony charges of first-degree burglary and drug possession. Michelle Lea Bultman, 25, of Waseca faces felony first-degree burglary.

Deputies with the Steele County Sheriff’s Office arrived at the scene at around 4 a.m. Saturday. The homeowner told them that he saw a man on his steps after being alerted by a noise.

The homeowner noticed that his garage door was open, according to the complaint. When the deputy stepped inside the garage, he saw boxes of clothes, tools and other things scattered across the floor. The deputy noticed someone hiding underneath the car.

The deputy ordered the person to get out and show his hands, but the person didn’t move. The complaint says that the deputy threw a baseball glove at the person, which coaxed him out from under the car.

Authorities searched the man and found a screwdriver, a flashlight and a cup full of loose change on him. In a sleeve pocket, he had a black case with eight grams of “white crystal substance,” according to the complaint. It later fielded tested positive for methamphetamine. The man was identified as Lester.

While deputies were asking questions, Lester’s phone kept ringing with the name Michelle on the caller ID. According to the complaint, Lester said that a person named Michelle dropped him off at the home earlier.

The homeowner alerted deputies to a van parked in another driveway. Deputies went to the vehicle and saw somebody lying inside. Deputies asked the person to come out and identified her as Bultman, who allegedly said that she had come out with a friend and didn’t know what was going on.

Both Lester and Bultman are being held in the Steele County Detention Center on $10,000 bail. They are both scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 19.