Suspect charged in south metro burglary spree

Carlton R. O'Neal of Burnsville was out on bail for burglary, theft and gun charges stemming from last year when, police say, he was caught in the act on July 3 of this year, allegedly committing three new business burglaries in the south metro.

But Burnsville and Savage police suspect that could only be the tip of the iceberg for one really prolific burglar.

In the past two months alone near the Highway 13 border between Savage and Burnsville, court papers say, there were 54 burglaries in a 4-mile radius around the home where O'Neal, 27, stayed with his girlfriend. Most were smash-and-grab with vending machines or office desks looted.

And a couple of months before that, 57 burglaries were reported to the Burnsville and Savage Police Department between March 4 and O'Neal's arrest on July 3 of this year.

A criminal complaint filed Wednesday in Dakota County District Court charges O'Neal with four new counts of third-degree burglary. More charges could be coming, officials said.

The complaint says that at 2:30 a.m. on July 3, a burglar alarm went off at Data Sales on West Burnsville Parkway. Burnsville, Eagan and Savage police responded and found that a landscaping block had been thrown through a window.

Just before 4 a.m., a Savage officer at the scene heard glass breaking nearby. A broken window was found at another business, and police caught O'Neal running nearby.

Police say the burglary targets were typically businesses hit late at night or early in the morning, and near the Highway 13 border between Savage and Burnsville. Entry was gained by windows or doors being pried or broken.

The Savage businesses broken into along Highway 13 and Yosemite Avenue overnight on June 12 reported a large number of coins were stolen from vending machines and office drawers. The police immediately tipped off area banks to watch for people with coins.

Later that day, an employee of Associated Bank on Princeton Avenue in Savage reported a man in the lobby with a bag of quarters.

It allegedly was O'Neal, who soon told curious police that he was cashing in his change because he was having financial difficulties. Savage police determined that O'Neal 's description matched that of a man captured on surveillance cameras at the Yosemite Avenue burglary sites the night before.

Police learned that O'Neal was staying with a girlfriend in the 3800 block of Hamilton Street , which is at the center of the 4-mile radius of the rash of burglaries, and two blocks from the Burnsville-Savage border.

Police also recovered athletic shoes with a swirl tread pattern that matched shoeprints found at multiple burglary scenes, the court papers say. O'Neal remained Wednesday in the Dakota County jail on the new burglary charges. Bail was set at $50,000 bail, with conditions.