05/05/15 St. Louis County, MN – Deputy’s Car Stolen From The University Of Wisconsin – Superior Campus – The Black Unmarked Car Was Stolen In Broad Daylight

May 5, 2015

twincities.com

Authorities are asking for the public’s help in locating a St. Louis County sheriff’s office squad car stolen Monday night while it was parked on the University of Wisconsin-Superior campus.

The black, unmarked car is a 2013 Chevrolet Impala with Minnesota license plate number 301-LVL.

“I’ve been doing this for 12 years and its the first motor vehicle assigned to this office we’ve had stolen. It’s rare and it’s very brazen for somebody to do this,” St. Louis County Sheriff Ross Litman said.

Litman said the squad was taken about 6 p.m.

“I can see if it were nighttime, intending to steal a vehicle and breaking into it — ‘Oops, this is a law enforcement car,’ ” Litman said. “But in broad daylight, one can easily look in. It makes one wonder if their intent was to steal (a squad car).”

Litman said the deputy who drove the car had the sheriff’s permission to be on the campus with the vehicle.

It is not known how the vehicle was accessed.

“There was no glass on the ground; no evidence outside,” said Gary Gulbrandson, UW-Superior director of campus safety and parking services.

Meanwhile, officers in Polk County are searching for a suspect in the theft late last week of a pickup, flatbed trailer and Polaris Ranger reported stolen from a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources office near Mentor, Minn.

The Polk County sheriff’s office has identified a suspect, Thomas Staff Jr., 26, Crookston, who is wanted for questioning in the case.

According to the report, the missing property is identified as a Silver Ford F-350 pickup with an attached flatbed trailer. The Polaris Ranger all-terrain vehicle, equipped with tracks, was on the trailer at the time.

The pickup had a yellow DNR sticker on the cab and a firebox in the truck bed. It had Minnesota license plates EN4-573. The plate on the trailer was Minnesota license EY-4013.