WHITE BEAR LAKE, Minn. — Someone's on Santa's naughty list after making a mess and damaging expensive merchandise Christmas morning at Tousley Motorsports, a family run business now in its 52nd year.
Sales consultant Jon Osowski says a man gained entry Monday by busting through glass. He says the man's behavior thereafter is puzzling.
"Super confusing, yeah, it just doesn't make sense," Osowski said. "He was walking around as though he was shopping. He was trying on clothing, trying on helmets, even put on a pair of shoes."
Osowski says the man loaded a helmet, a couple of backpacks, about a dozen basic tie straps and several water bottles into a UTV.
"But then jumped into it realizing there's no keys in it, so he couldn't drive it away," he said.
That's when surveillance video shows the man stealing a Polaris Ranger, causing what adjustors so far estimate is about $500,000 worth of damages.
"Knocked over the motorcycles, and then literally drove over them like an off-road course," Osowski said. "He [then] drove through three glass garage doors, a fence and ultimately a chain-link fence once he left the parking lot."
"Just the ability to go through glass. I mean, there was so much glass everywhere. It was kind of astonishing that someone could go through three plate glass garage doors in a vehicle. I guess that's a testament to the Polaris Ranger."
The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office reports deputies were alerted to the burglary when a security alarm went off at 6:22 a.m. They arrived while the man was still there. In fact, surveillance video shows him bursting through one of the garage doors only moments after a deputy is shown walking out of harm's way.
We're told deputies arrested the man soon after he drove off into some nearby woods.
"It was actually quite quick," Osowski said. "The police were fantastic about their turnaround. The Ramsey County Sheriff and the White Bear Police Department."
Now the longstanding powersports-vehicle store is temporarily closed as employees clean up the property. Tousley Motorsports is not asking for donations but rather that customers come by once they reopen.
"We were all excited, we'd just taken pictures for the Christmas cards, we had a really successful Toys for Tots Drive," Osowski said. "To have this happen definitely puts you in a different place."
As of Tuesday evening, the man has not been charged. A public police report doesn't indicate whether he was under the influence during the attempted burglary.
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