Charges: Teenager Broke Into Fridley Home, Stole Gun And Cash
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- An 18-year-old Columbia Heights woman is facing charges after she allegedly broke into a Fridley home, then left her belongings there after stealing a gun and cash.
Sabrina Lynn Armstrong was charged in Anoka County Court with second-degree burglary and theft of a firearm in connection with the May 28 incident.
According to a criminal complaint, Fridley police were called at about 3:50 p.m. on May 29 on a burglary call. When officers arrived, a neighbor at the duplex on 5375 5th Street told police that his neighbors were out of town in Florida when he discovered their door unlocked. He went inside and found items thrown around and the basement window broken in.
The homeowners came home a few days later and told police a handgun and $1,000 cash were missing from the home.
The complaint states when officers searched the house, they found a black Swiss backpack with a male's wallet inside the house. The wallet was of a juvenile who told police he knew Armstrong from high school. He said he received a text message from her the day before to hang out at her house, and she gave him the address of where the burglary took place.
According to the complaint, she picked him up at his friend's house and they stayed at the house until the next day, when she bought him a new pair of shoes at the Mall of America. He said she also sent him a picture of her holding a gun and lot of cash. He showed police the picture, and they recognized the location as the residence of the burglary.
The complaint states police found Armstrong and arrested her. She told authorities she and a friend broke into the residence by smashing a basement window and she found a handgun and about $1,000 in cash. She told police she took a picture of herself with the gun and cash, then sent it to her friend, picked him up and went to the Mall of America with him. She told police she used part of the stolen cash to buy her friend shoes.
She told police she took the gun to a different friend's house and admitted she didn't have permission to enter the home or take anything from it.
During a search of the home, authorities found a pink and white female jacket that was hers. They also recovered the stolen handgun and returned it to the owner.
If convicted, Armstrong faces up to 30 years in prison and about $120,000 in fines.
