Smith gets 150 days in jail, stayed prison time for golf course burglary, theft and sale of scrap metal
WILLMAR -- Timothy Lee Smith, 22, of Litchfield was sentenced to 13 months in prison, which was stayed, $100 in fines and five years of probation on a third-degree burglary charge for burglarizing the Island Pines Golf Course in Atwater and a felony theft charge for stealing auto parts from a Sunburg business and then selling the metal for scrap.
Smith was also ordered to serve 150 days in jail, with credit for seven days served, and pay a total of $2,857 in restitution in Kandiyohi County District Court. He is jointly responsible for the restitution with his co-defendant in both cases, Cody Lyle Lawren Jackson, 19, of Atwater. Jackson was sentenced in November to five years of probation, a $500 fine and 190 days in jail on a felony theft charge and to a year and a day in jail, which was stayed, a $1,000 fine and five years of probation for burglarizing the golf course.
Smith was also ordered to attend a property-crime impact panel and victim-offender mediation and to use no drugs and submit to random testing.
The metal theft charges were filed after the owner of Jorgenson Auto Sales contacted the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office on March 15 to report that radiators and aluminum wheels were taken from a storage shed.
Both contain a significant amount of valuable metal.
The next day, the man contacted law enforcement again, notifying investigators that he had found several of the wheels at Windy Hill Auto Parts of rural New London. He had also gotten a photocopy of a check and receipt for radiators and rims from the business to Jackson.
The next day, the owner and a detective from the Sheriff's Office interviewed Windy Hill personnel, who said another young man was with Jackson.
When interviewed, Jackson and Smith admitted to the thefts and using a bolt cutter to enter the shed. They said they were in Sunburg to visit someone and knew they could get money for the metal. Smith said they split the money from the sale.
The burglary charges were filed after a Kandiyohi County sheriff's deputy was dispatched to the golf course on May 5 on a burglary report. Golf clubs, money, video games and the keys to two golf carts were reported missing. The total value was estimated at $1,315.
The course manager also reported a golf cart had a bent axle and that the two missing keys were found in the pro shop.
Atwater Police Chief Reed Schmidt received information that Jackson and Smith were involved in the burglary.
He visited Smith at his home in Litchfield after a relative discovered golf clubs stashed in the rafters of the garage and observed golf balls in Smith's truck.
Smith told Schmidt that the clubs were not his and belonged to Jackson. He said Jackson approached him to go to the golf course after discovering an unlocked door. He admitted they went inside and took pop and the golf clubs.
He said Jackson took the money. He allowed Schmidt to search his truck, and several boxes of golf balls were found in a tool box.
During an interview, Jackson admitted to stealing pop, candy, and the golf clubs and balls. He added that he and Smith drove the carts into each other.
