For ice fishing trip, onetime Hennepin sheriff’s captain allegedly stole comfort item from lab

A onetime Hennepin County sheriff’s captain stole a piece of equipment from the Sheriff’s Office ahead of a wintertime fishing excursion, according to prosecutors.

Steven George Labatt, 58, of St. Michael, Minn., was charged in District Court last week with felony theft in connection with stealing a gasoline-powered generator from the forensic science laboratory that he directed at the time.

Labatt, who had been with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office for 35 years, was charged by summons ahead of a Nov. 20 court hearing.

Labatt’s defense attorney Joe Tamburino sent the Minnesota Star Tribune a receipt showing that his client reimbursed the county for the generator in mid-April.

According to the criminal complaint:

Sheriff’s Office personnel noticed in early March that the generator was missing. Numerous emails soon went out to Labatt and other staff asking that it be returned.

Labatt admitted taking the generator and using it for an ice fishing trip from Feb. 1-28, only to realize after he returned home that he left it on the lake.

The cost of the new generator was $1,209. Its gasoline can was also missing and replaced for $26.97, with 2 gallons of gas included. The Sheriff’s Office also paid $80 to put Air Tags on the generator.

Along with failing to respond to Sheriff’s Office staff inquiries about the missing generator, Labatt did not replace or offer to replace it until after a new one was purchased.

The Sheriff’s Office crime lab works with 35 law enforcement agencies in the county along with the State Patrol and federal law enforcement agencies.

Labatt had risen through the Sheriff’s Office ranks, starting at the jail in 1989, then moving on to the water patrol, the crime lab unit, investigations, and the enforcement services division.