Tyler Dean Ryks, 18, of New London, pleaded guilty Wednesday to an amended charge of receiving stolen property for stealing video games from a rural New London home.
As part of a plea agreement, the charge was lowered from a felony theft charge and another felony for third-degree burglary will be dismissed.
Ryks also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of theft and property damage and two other misdemeanor charges will be dismissed. Those charges were from separate files. The theft charge was filed after a Nov. 25 incident in which a New London citizen reported stereo equipment missing from a vehicle that also had a smashed window. The property damage charge dated to an Oct. 30 incident in which the tires of two vehicles in Spicer were slashed. An investigation revealed that Ryks and another male had planned to steal stereo equipment from one of the vehicles, but that it was locked, so they slashed the tires instead. The incident also included burning the vehicle after it was towed to Belgrade. That remains under investigation by Stearns County officials. No charges have been filed in that case.
The theft and burglary charges were filed after the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's Office investigated a home burglary on Nov. 15 in rural New London. The homeowner said his child came home to find furniture moved and electronic items missing. The missing items totaled $1,845 in value and included a Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS system, games, controllers, digital cameras, batteries, a DVD player, a wallet, cash, gift cards and $350 in cash and change in an apple cider jug.
Through interviews with several people, deputies learned that some of the equipment had been sold at a Willmar gaming store and to a Willmar woman. A deputy recovered the equipment sold to the store, which had collected the seller's name, address and date of birth. The original owner properly identified the equipment. The person who bought the Wii from two males for $150 gave police a description of the two and a cell phone number that registered to a family member of Ryks. The serial number sticker to the equipment had been removed. The two male sellers had said they were updating their system and were selling the equipment.
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Ryks will be sentenced May 29.
