A St. Paul man expressed remorse Thursday for stealing tools, equipment and deer, bear and walleye mounts from a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources building in January.

"I just want to apologize to the DNR for my actions," Timothy K. Heidenreich told Ramsey County District Judge Rosanne Nathanson at his sentencing.

Nathanson ordered Heidenreich, 39, to pay $8,204.74 in restitution to the DNR, a sum other defendants in the case could help pay. The judge also gave him a stayed sentence of one year and nine months in prison and put him on probation for five years. Heidenreich was ordered to serve 70 days in jail, but he received credit for 70 days he has already served. He pleaded guilty Feb. 16 to aiding and abetting third-degree burglary.

"I think this was a major offense against the community of the state of Minnesota," Nathanson said in court.

Boat motors, chainsaws, leaf blowers and animal and fish mounts were stolen from the DNR's metro storage facility, according to the criminal complaint. St. Paul police tracked the theft to Heidenreich after he was seen stealing a tomato from the cafeteria in the Washington County Government Center in Stillwater, according to the criminal complaint. While in jail, Heidenreich called co-defendant Terry K. Cotton and asked him to sell power tools and computers stored in a van near Heidenreich's house, according to the complaint.

An informant later told police that Heidenreich was storing the animal mounts at a house on Conway Street on St. Paul's East Side. Police found most of the DNR equipment at the house.

Shane J. Rylander, 40, pleaded guilty this week to aiding and abetting receiving stolen property. He is scheduled to be sentenced May 18. Cotton, 37, has pleaded not guilty to the same charge.

LORA PABST