Investigating a string of Pierce County business burglaries led police to identifying one man they believe stole a semi-tractor in Minnesota and submerged in the Mississippi River.

Scott Brian LaCroix, 55, Cottage Grove, Minn., paid $2,500 cash bail June 19 at a Pierce County Circuit Court initial appearance, where he was charged with two felony burglary – building or dwelling, one felony possession of burglarious tools and three criminal damage to property charges. If convicted, he faces up to 12.5 years in prison and/or fines up to $25,000.

As of June 26, no charges had been filed regarding the stolen semi-tractor.

According to the complaint:

Deputies responded at 5:45 a.m. Monday, May 1 to Crestwood Cabinetry (N1428 760^th St., Hager City) for a burglary complaint. An employee had gotten to work and noticed a window that had been forced open. Police noticed marks on the window and window frame that appeared to have come from a crowbar, along with a broken screen. A camera in the office was turned toward the ceiling, which had not been that way Friday when the owner left.

The thief had pried open a wooden desk drawer with a crowbar and a small lockbox inside. The victim estimated about $5,500 in cash had been taken. An employee had come into the office at 9 a.m. Sunday and noticed nothing amiss, so the theft was believed to have taken place between 9 a.m. April 30 and 5 a.m. May 1. A second employee reported that $60 had been taken from her desk when she came in Monday morning as well.

The neighboring company, Hager City Express/Schroeder Trucking (W7605 Highway 35, Hager City) had also been broken into. An employee there noticed a window lying in the grass and called police at 7:20 a.m. The window had been intact on Friday, April 28. It appeared to have been broken into by a crowbar. The office door upstairs had similar damage; the door jamb had chips of wood taken out of it that resembled crowbar marks. Nothing was taken from the business, but the damage was estimated to be $1,500.

Spirit Trucking & Landscape (W8294 Highway 10, Hager City) also reported being burglarized sometime between 10 p.m. April 30 and 2 a.m. May 1. The owner said he’d been onsite until 10 p.m. When he returned the next morning, he found a fist-sized hole in a front window, where someone had reached through to unlock and slide it open. In the main office area, $100 had been taken from an unlocked cash box.

Inside a second-floor office, drawers had been ripped out of cabinets and their contents strewn all over the office. About $2,800 in cash and customer checks had been taken from a deposit envelope. Police located a footprint in the dust on a windowsill. The owner found another partial print with details on a wooden stool in an office.

On June 8, a Pierce County investigator learned about suspects in other trucking company burglaries in Minnesota from the St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office. LaCroix and a 34-year-old Hastings, Minn. man, Mitchell Gordon Gobely, who both drive semi were identified as suspects. Other agencies had received information that the two men owned storage units in Prescott. A crime alert had also been issued for the pair from Lyon County, Minn., listing a 2016 GMC Sierra for Gobely and a 2019 Chevy Silverado for LaCroix.

Cell phone records indicated LaCroix’s cell phone pinged off cell phone towers in the general area of the Pierce County burglaries the evening they occurred. A Pierce County officer drove around Prescott checking storage units for the two trucks; two vehicles registered to LaCroix were found at Midwest Flex Space storage units (660 S. Dexter St.)

On June 12, a Prescott police investigator reported he too had seen the vehicles and a man who looked like LaCroix working on a semi at the storage unit. Police had also received an alert from Yellow Medicine County (Minn.) Sheriff’s Office about a stolen semi reported in Blaine, Minn. LaCroix had been the suspect identified in that theft thanks to a reverse dash camera in the semi.

At 4:40 a.m. June 13, PCSO took a report of a semi that had been driven into the Mississippi River just off the Diamond Bluff boat launch. The semi belonged to Joe Cotrone, who had reported it missing in Blaine. The seats and engine parts were missing. A Blaine police officer told PCSO that a black truck had been circling the area and following the semi near the place from which it was stolen (LaCroix owns a black Chevy Silverado).

On June 14, PCSO learned that Gobely had been involved in a domestic incident with his wife in Minnesota. She reported the incident to the Hastings and Cottage Grove police departments June 13. She also spoke about the crimes her husband and LaCroix had been involved in. Police learned the men started by robbing Applebees and bars in February or March. When they didn’t get enough money from these burglaries, they allegedly started targeting trucking companies.

After taking the safes, she said, they’d bring them to the Prescott flex space storage units to break them open. After taking their contents, they’d dump the safes in the river in Red Wing or Baldwin Lake in Cottage Grove. The pair kept guns, money and personal documents from the safes in the storage units. She said they’d robbed places in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and maybe the Dakotas, especially trucking places on the weekends.

Based off her information, police obtained search warrants for Unit 303. The warrants were executed at 12:55 p.m. that day. LaCroix was inside one of the units and detained in handcuffs. He denied knowing anything about the burglaries or being anywhere near the businesses at the times of the burglaries in Pierce County. Police learned Gobely had been staying with LaCroix in Cottage Grove.

LaCroix was arrested and transported to Pierce County Jail. Officers obtained a search warrant for Gobely’s storage unit and a garage code from the landlord. Inside Unit 203, they located items that had been removed from the Blaine semi. They also found a metal John Deere box with coins and a blue Miller drawstring bag that were reported stolen in Baldwin.

Gobely has not been charged in Pierce County Circuit Court. However, he has been charged in St. Croix County Circuit Court with two felony burglary building or dwelling charges. A warrant for his arrest was issued June 22.

La Croix is scheduled for a status conference at 8:30 a.m. July 20.