MINNESOTA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM ROYAL TIRE Tools, computers, car stolen from Royal TireTools, computers, car stolen from Royal Tire

Eric O'Link
News Editor

Royal Tire in Monticello reported a break-in over the holiday weekend, a theft that left the business with upwards of $10,000 of property stolen.

“They pretty much cleaned us out,” said Dan Matt, manager of the Monticello business.

Matt said the break-in occurred sometime between the store’s noon closing Saturday and about 6 p.m. Sunday evening. It was discovered, Matt said, when a tow truck driver towed a broken-down car from I-94 to the Monticello Royal Tire. The driver noticed one of the business’s doors open and called law enforcement.

Matt said the thieves took Royal Tire’s computers–four monitors and two PCs. They took one toolbox full of tools and broke into two others, cleaning out the valuable tools inside. They stole a locked tool car that contained electrical vehicle computer diagnostic equipment and a set of four custom wheels. They also broke into the cash register, stole the cash inside, and broke into Matt’s office and searched through his desk.

This is the first such break-in at Royal Tire, Matt added.

He said the thieves did a thorough job. And in addition to whatever vehicle the suspects brought to the store, they also stole a Royal Tire customer’s 2003 Dodge Caravan that was in the parking lot awaiting repairs.

“They had to have another vehicle,” Matt said. “There’s no way they did it in one vehicle.”

That vehicle has since been recovered and returned to the custody of its owner, though Matt said the van could use a cleaning.

“They found cigars and Starburst in the car, so it was probably kids smoking cigars, eating Starburst,” he said. “No damage, other than it needs to be cleaned out.”

Matt said he was not sure whether the break-in was done by someone familiar with the store.

“It’s hard to say,” he said. “They picked the weakest link of the door, so you think they would have known something. But we don’t know.”

Matt also is not yet sure of the total value of the property lost.

“Just the tools alone are probably $10,000,” he said. “It’s hard to say, I really don’t know. It was a whole lot of tools, a lot of stuff.”

But Royal Tire has already replaced some of those tools, he added.

“We’re still open, we didn’t have to close,” he said. “We’re making due. We’ll be back up and going again.”

The Wright County Sheriff’s Department is continuing to investigate the break-in.