The Coen brothers couldn't have written a more Minnesotan crime plot if they tried:
A St. Paul man woke up Jan. 4 to find his Toro snowblower missing from his garage. But all he had to do to find out who allegedly stole it was follow its tracks — in the snow — across the street to a neighbor's house on the city's West Side.
The snowblower's rightful owner called police, who found his machine along with his Craftsman air compressor and a Black and Decker battery charger, at the neighbor's house, according to charges filed Tuesday.
Daniel A. Giles, 22, of St. Paul, faces one count of third-degree burglary in Ramsey County District Court over the snowblower theft.
According to the complaint:
The homeowner noticed the door to his garage, which is shared with a downstairs neighbor, open at 3:30 a.m. He shut the door. At 8:40 a.m., he saw the "small" tire tracks and followed them across the street.
Police spoke to the neighbor across the street and his nephew, Giles, who initially lied about his identity. Authorities later learned that during that same morning Giles allegedly tried to break into a SuperAmerica located a half-mile from his uncle's home.
Under subsequent questioning by police, Giles denied stealing the snowblower and blamed his uncle's upstairs neighbors for the crime.
