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Charges: Man Cuts Wires To Relieve Pressure On Brain

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Police say a 65-year-old Hastings man admitted to cutting the wires behind an area business because they were contributing to the pressure on his brain.

Raymond Bischoff faces one count of criminal damage to property, a felony.

A criminal complaint says officers were sent to a Hastings business on Jan. 4, 2013, after a 911 call was disconnected. The victim told officers that someone had cut the Internet wire as well as the phone line outside of his business. Just days earlier, someone had also cut the Internet wire, the gutter heater wire and the business' two TV dish cables.

The damage total exceeded $1,000, police said.

On Jan. 4, officers saw Bischoff standing in a nearby parking lot, watching repairmen fix the wires. Officers spoke with Bischoff and matched his bootprints to the pattern found in the snow near the cut wires.

Bischoff then told officers he cut the wires with a small blade on up to three occasions. He also told police that he is staying a nearby hotel and is having trouble with pressure on his brain, which he blames on the wires.

If convicted, Bischoff faces a potential maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

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