By Mara H. Gottfried

St. Paul Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Capitol building was closed to the public, but a staff member earlier this week found an intruder inside the House of Representatives chambers — he was hanging up signs and said he was there to see a senator.

Soon, Minnesota State Patrol troopers discovered the handwritten signs “were cryptic but disturbing. They made references to religion, war on his family and murders,” according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday against Robert Joseph Anderson, 47, of Minneapolis.

The troopers also saw a large knife had been stuck in the chambers’ podium and it was securing papers. The papers were a harassment restraining order that a family member, who isn’t connected to the Capitol, had obtained against Anderson, according to State Patrol Capt. Eric Roeske.

Troopers had responded to the call about a suspicious man being in the chambers at about 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. The Capitol is under construction and is closed to the public; there is a fence around the St. Paul building, the grounds are torn up and “clearly marked with large signs stating that the Capitol is closed and not accessible to the public,” the complaint said. The legislative session had ended a day earlier.

The House of Representatives’ assistant sergeant at arms reported that she encountered a man hanging signs in the chambers.

“When she questioned him, he said that he was there to see a particular senator and he instructed her not to take his signs down,” according to the complaint. “After a short discussion, she decided to leave for her own safety.” She notified the State Patrol and troopers responded, but the man was not there, Roeske said.

Troopers contacted the woman who had obtained the restraining order in Washington County against Johnson, and she said she and her family were safe. She said Johnson had gone through rehabilitation for methamphetamine addiction about six months earlier and, a few months later, “began to act very strange,” according to the complaint. “She suspected that he was back on methamphetamine.”