Man sentenced to jail, probation for burglary

Published 11:01 am Friday, July 1, 2016

A second man in the burglary of a vacant farm was sentenced to jail time and probation on Thursday in Mower County court.

Geronimo Deluna, Jr., 40, of Bricelyn, Minnesota, was sentenced to three years of supervised probation and 90 days in Mower County Jail. If he violates the terms of his probation, he will serve 319 days in jail, with credit for 46 days already served and is a stayed sentence for two years.

He will also do 50 hours of community work service.

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Deluna was convicted of gross misdemeanor fourth-degree burglary and misdemeanor fourth-degree intentional damage to property.

Another man was sentenced in October 2015 to 21 months in prison and was convicted of felony third-degree burglary.

On Aug. 24, 2015, at about 9:20 a.m., deputies from the Mower County Sheriff’s Office responded to a vacant farm at the 50000th block of 235th Street in Red Rock Township to a report of unknown trespassers with an SUV and trailer, according to the court complaint.

Two deputies confronted Buck and another man, Geronimo Deluna Jr, loading what appeared to be an old furnace onto the trailer. Buck told the deputies that “a friend” had asked them to remove the furnace and water heater from the house for $30. Buck was on probation at the time. The two men were arrested, and deputies later found out the farm property was owned by the city of Austin.

The SUV contained numerous hand tools and long sections of wiring that appeared to have been taken from the house, according to the complaint. Deputies also found several tools used to remove the furnace, a flashlight, a set of wire cutters, a screwdriver and a crowbar on the kitchen counter near an electrical plate that had wires pulled out.

A neighbor told the officers they noticed the SUV and trailer leave the farm site at about 8:30 p.m. the previous evening and thought it was suspicious but reported it after the SUV and trailer were back the next morning.