A Pierce County couple is facing multiple felonies related to a string of recent storage unit burglaries around the River Falls area.

Terri Lee Casello, 34, homeless, was ordered to pay a $10,000 cash bond Jan. 2 in St. Croix County Circuit Court on four felony burglary – building or dwelling (repeater, as party to a crime), 11 felony bail jumping (repeater), criminal trespass to dwelling (repeater) and two criminal damage to property (as party to a crime, repeater) charges. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 12.5 years in prison and/or fines up to $25,000.

Blake Donald Field, 33, homeless, was also ordered to pay a $10,000 cash bond Jan. 2 on resisting or obstructing an officer (repeater), criminal trespass to dwelling (repeater), two criminal damage to property (as party to a crime, repeater), 10 felony bail jumping (repeater) and four felony burglary – building or dwelling (as party to a crime, repeater) charges. If convicted, he too faces a maximum penalty of 12.5 years in prison and/or fines up to $25,000.

According to the complaint:

At 9:46 a.m. Friday, Dec. 26, St. Croix County deputies were dispatched to Deiss Storage (895 State Road 65) in the town of Troy for a suspicious activity complaint. The property owner said he had found a white, four-door sedan parked on the west side of the building with a male driver near the vehicle. The man had a mask pulled up to his nose; he told the property owner that he was letting his dog out to pee, but there was no dog present. The man drove off and the property owner noticed the vehicle had no license plates. He then saw a woman running to the east near some storage boxes.

River Falls police were dispatched to help find the two suspects. Police followed the footprints through the snow to Abundant Life Church (896 State Road 65), where they went up to all the buildings on the north side of the church. It looked like the woman had gone into an unlocked shed then came back out. She was not found that morning.

The storage unit owner reported someone had gone into several unlocked, unoccupied storage units where they had unscrewed metal panels to gain access to locked and occupied units. Police found screws on the ground and bent back panels. One renter on the scene said his unit had been gone through but he was unsure if anything had been taken.  The suspects had left behind a Dewalt battery operated drill.

The suspects were identified as Casello and Field from video footage at the scenes of other area break-ins. At 6:15 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 27, Abundant Life’s pastor showed police footage of Casello coming into the church at 10:10 a.m. the day before. A black laptop computer valued at $500 had gone missing.

At 9 a.m. Dec. 17, the white Chevy Impala was seen on surveillance footage possibly casing out Deiss Storage. The suspects had modified their license plates by adding black writing to the original letters and numbers.

At 2:02 p.m. Dec. 29, a complainant reported seeing the Impala at Abundant Life Church again. He followed it to Highway 35, where it went north to the McDonalds on Crestview Drive in Hudson. When officers arrived, Casello and Field were inside the vehicle. The pair has bond conditions in place from several cases that prohibits them from seeing or contacting each other. Field initially gave police a false name.

A Hudson K9 officer alerted on the vehicle for narcotics. With probable cause, officers searched the vehicle and found several tools commonly used to commit burglaries, including a crowbar, drills and wrenches; a brand-new Honda generator, electronics and wire spools. No narcotics were located. Police impounded the vehicle for evidence and took it to their storage area.

At the jail, Casello agreed to speak to police and told them she had just bought the white Impala from someone for $300 cash plus traded her Mitsubishi Montero. She claimed she had been nowhere near the storage units and said she’d been in Ellsworth Friday. She gave police the names of two men she said were doing all the burglaries in the area. Casello said the men steal from storage units and sell the items online. She claimed other stolen items are being kept on a farm near the Elmwood water tower. She also told officers she and Field had stopped at Abundant Life that day because they’d gotten into an argument.

After receiving a search warrant, officers searched the Impala and found several new tool sets, extension cords, pry bars, crowbar, breaker bar, impact drivers, speakers, masks, gators, a black wig, copper fittings and other tools, along with clothes and cash.

Casello and Field are suspected of burglarizing other area storage units, including several at 3004 60^th Ave., in the town of Springfield. Police were dispatched to MJ Storage Units Dec. 4 where two units had been broken into. Car parts, a radio, a speaker and amp kit were missing from one, valued at $1,675. In a surveillance video, two people back an SUV (registered to Casello) up to the unit on Nov. 18 and begin loading items into it. About $600 worth of home and stereo equipment were missing from another unit.

The same vehicle and suspects returned to MJ Storage Units at 12:29 a.m. Nov. 21. The male can be seen testing doors and locks before entering a unit. They’re later seen backing up to two other units and loading items into a Mitsubishi Montero. The vehicle returned at 4:56 a.m. Nov. 22, pulled up to the same units, where the suspects broke a lock, opened the door but didn’t go in. They left again, but are seen at 5:20 a.m. walking onto the property, going into the same two units and leaving again at 5:22 a.m. They’re seen removing several items from another unit at 5:29 a.m. The suspects wore masks, but the man’s mask slid down, revealing what looked like a black mark under the man’s right eye. Field has a tattoo in that location on his face.

Casello was scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing at 3 p.m. Jan. 6 in Court Room 6 at St. Croix County Government Center, with Field’s preliminary hearing set for 11:30 a.m. Jan. 6 in the same court room.