Kenneth Ray Nightingale, 35, of LeRoy was charged on Thursday in Mower County District Court with felony bringing stolen goods into the state, felony possession of stolen property, felony possession of burglary or theft tools and felony storing methamphetamine paraphernalia in the presence of a child.

According to the court complaint, an investigator from the Fillmore County Sheriff’s Office contacted a Mower County detective on Monday regarding a burglary in Fillmore County in which numerous tools were stolen. A surveillance camera allegedly showed Nightingale as the one responsible and the investigator needed assistance for a search warrant.

Deputies executed the search warrant on Tuesday at Nightingale’s residence in the 200 block of West Read Street in LeRoy, according to the complaint. Nightingale and his juvenile niece were inside. Nightingale allegedly talked about the tools he had stolen, admitted to three more burglaries in Iowa, and said several of the stolen items had been traded for drugs. He allegedly said that those burglaries were from “Iowa Select Hogs” trailers in Howard and Mitchell counties. He then allegedly showed the deputies the other stolen items, saying he used bolt cutters and pry bars to break into the trailers.

Deputies also found methamphetamine paraphernalia in Nightingale’s bedroom, according to the report. Nightingale’s niece allegedly told the detective that her cousin once got poked by a needle while in Nightingale’s bedroom and that she had gone into his bedroom the night before to ask for a snack.

A methamphetamine pipe, two bolt cutters, two pry bars, a cell phone, stolen tools from Fillmore County, a stolen Fuji mountain bike, and $8,000 worth of tools stolen from “Iowa Select Hogs” were taken into evidence, according to the complaint.

A review of Nightingale’s criminal history shows prior convictions for giving a peace officer a false name and drug possession.

Nightingale will appear in court again on March 1.