By Barbara Brown

The take-down of a major car theft ring operating out of North Branch and Mora started with just a little dust.

In July 2003, a Minnetonka Police officer came to Chisago County because he had received a call from a construction company saying they believed their stolen trailer had been located in Pine City.

The man told police that he had received a call from another person who had bought the trailer from a private buyer, but that when he had driven it down a dry dirt road and the dust from the ground stuck to the side of the trailer, revealing the silhouette of ìBell Constructionî where the lettering had been removed.

The buyer contacted Bell Construction who in turn called police.

Investigation revealed that the trailer had in fact been stolen by two men named Ricky Bedell and Curtis Clippard.

The pair used to work at Bell Construction and stole the trailer along with the load of construction tools and equipment, valued at about $50,000, it had been carrying.

Chisago County Investigator Doug Henning got involved with the case after investigators discovered Bedell was living with a North Branch man named Wade Williams.

Williams, who used to live in a Kateís Estates home, was no stranger to police, Henning said. He had a rap sheet that included several petty offenses and traffic violations.

Bedell and Clippard used to work for Bell Construction and Bedell was living with Williams at the time of the theft.

On July 8, Chisago County deputies executed a search warrant on Williamsí house on 373rd Street.

During that warrant search, police found several vehicles including a new Ford Super Duty pickup truck, a white Camaro, and five trailers including one that had been used to steal boxes of siding from a house under construction in North Branch.

Also at the house police found multiple stolen riding lawn mowers, motorbikes, jet skis as well as accessories and car parts.

At the time the North Branch warrant was served, the Pine County Sheriffís Department had another warrant at a house occupied by Kenny Rauschnot and his parents in Pine City. Rauschnotís name had come up as having a connection with stolen items.

Deputy Dan Vosika executed a warrant on the house where Rauschnotís parents lived in Pine City where police found more stolen vehicles, goods, Artic Cats and a 4-place enclosed snowmobile trailer along with more truck accessories.

Police had learned that Williams, Rauschnot and another of Williamsí roommates, Jeremy Michels, went to Waldoch conversion center near Lino Lakes where Williams used to work.

While there, they loaded up a trailer ñ which had been stolen from a St. Cloud business ñ full of parts, accessories, tires and more high-end vehicle enhancements resulting in about a $150,000 burglary.

The trailer used in the burglary had also been used to steal two vehicles and 8 to 10 new Polaris ATVs.

After the North Branch warrant, Chisago County sent out a teletype letting other law enforcement agencies know about the items recovered.
Chisago County got a call from Anoka County police saying the items found at the North Branch house were similar to the ones missing from Waldochís.

Leads to drugs

Police also received information from cooperating defendants that lead to the discovery of two meth labs in the county.

County charges were filed against Jim Lorge, 29, the son of the owners of a Stacy business where he had set up a lab to manufacture the highly-addictive and illegal drug.

The discovery of the second lab coincided with the search of a Rush City house in connection with the stolen vehicle ring.

Henning had been watching the brown A-frame house on 8th Street in Rush City waiting to find a black half-ton pickup truck that had been spotted leaving the Williamsí residence on the day the warrant was served.

While there, Henning saw a woman and an older man maintaining the yard at the house, which was up for sale.

Henning approached the pair and received permission to look at the truck.

When he entered the garage, Henning verified that the truck was one that was involved in the theft ring and he also found evidence of the methamphetamine lab.

Police determined that the woman and man at the house were not involved in criminal acts and they were not arrested.

Police agencies responded to the house to clean up the lab and after further interviews and investigation, they discovered John Denesen was behind the lab and possibly more stolen property including motor vehicle parts from a car that had been stolen in Chisago County and dismantled at Wade Williamsí house.

Denesen had several run-ins with the law during his 37 years. He had theft charge, moving violations and petty drug charges on his sheet.
Police found Denesen at his in-laws home in Isanti in rural North Branch Township.

Denesen was arrested and charged with conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine and theft charges.

During the investigation, deputies got called to Rayís Mini Storage on Greenway Ave. in northern Forest Lake on Aug. 11, 2003.

The owner had become suspicious of a vehicle taken to storage and had called deputies.

The owner of the mini storage said the vehicle had been brought in by a man who was not the regular customer.

In the mini storage, police recovered a pickup stolen from Merit Chevrolet which had not been reported stolen at the time because Merit did not know it was gone from the lot.

After the owner showed police the storage client list, police found that a man named Josh Barnhill had rented a locker and that a man named Dan Martinson was the emergency contact on the sheet. Martinson was identified by one of the mini storage owners as the person who had brought the red Chevy half-ton pickup to the storage lot.

A search warrant was executed on the locker where police recovered a Honda VTX worth about $16,000, and a Honda Helix scooter and multiple other stolen items.

Police had gone through the stolen Chevy truck and found receipts from stores. Police then went to the stores, watched video surveillance tapes and watched Martinson buy cigarettes and bolt cutters. That evidence connected Martinson with the stolen truck, Henning said. After the storage search, the investigators had been led to Barnhillís residence, a Maplewood trailer park.

Chisago County informed Maplewood police and the Washington County Sheriffís Department about the investigation and a Washington County deputy saw several new Mustangs, valued between $50,000 and $60,000, parked at the Barnhill residence.

The Mustangs had, in fact been stolen from different car dealerships throughout the Twin Cities, and the intricate car theft ring plot came together for investigators.

"Martinson really liked Mustangs," Henning said police soon discovered. "He liked fast cars, nice cars. He had even stolen Hummers, Escalades stuff like that; expensive cars."

Chisago County continued to get information from cooperating defendants and found out Martinson was the head of the operation and had moved from the area and into rural Kanabec County where he could discretely run the theft ring.

Crime doesnít pay

Martinsonís crew was sly when it came to stealing cars. The crew did not work together for the most part and mostly did not work during daytime hours.

Henning said police found that the members of the group would legitimately test drive vehicles from various lots in the Twin Cities area. They would either remove a key from the key ring or secretly press the key into paraffin wax to create a mold.

That mold would later be turned into a key and the thieves would return to the car lot under cover of darkness to easily slip away with the vehicles.

Cars would be stolen by the crew and parked all over the metro area anywhere they could find space. For example, some of the stolen vehicles had been parked at the Days Inn and Menardís parking lots in Forest Lake.

If the vehicles were ever towed or ticketed, it was no big deal because they were illegally parked anyway and the crew would simply steal more cars.

Notebooks were used to keep track of which cars were where and how much each had been sold for.

The ones that were resold were given to other criminals to settle drug or money deals or to pay someone for services rendered. Most of the time, Henning said, Martinson would only get between $500 and $1,000 per vehicle.

Case goes interstate

The FBI became involved after Wade Williamsí warrant was served in July when New Richmond, Wisc., police were made aware of vehicles stolen from there and recovered in North Branch.

Special Agent Scott Pulver, Eau Claire, had been working with Wisconsin investigators Bob Bradford, John Wilson and Mark Samuelsted on several cases of theft in that state.

Now the large group of investigators, which included Henning, Pulver, Greg Reiter with the Washington County Sheriffís Department, Brent Johnson with Minnetonka, Sally Dunn with Maplewood, Bob Bradford with St. Croix County Sheriffís Department, Tom Rudenick with Ramsey County, Patti Kressley with South St. Paul and John Wilson with River Falls police as well as Bob Henderson with the National Insurance Crime Bureau, began to recover more stolen vehicles ñ topping more than 35 vehicles through the course of the investigation.

That number does not truly represent the number of vehicles stolen over the years by the crew. Several vehicles stolen before the bust had been sold and still more may be unaccounted for.

Martinson, who was determined to be the head of the ring, finally was tracked down in the Knife Lake Township area near Mora. When he was apprehended, Martinson had a 2003 Corvette and other high-end vehicles on the property he was renting.

Martinson admitted to police that he had stolen about 70 vehicles a year and had been active for several years.

He has since been indicted on federal charges of motor vehicle theft and crossing state lines in the commission of a crime.

Dan Martinson, 37, pleaded guilty to two counts which carry a maximum sentence each of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a 3-year supervised release and restitution.

He is being held in the Dane County, Wisc., jail awaiting his June 17 sentencing.

In a U.S. Department of Justice file dated April 8, Martinson agreed to take responsibility for stealing the following vehicles: From Twin Cities metro area car dealerships: 2003 rust-colored Hummer H2, 2002 Ford Mustang, 1999 red Chrysler Sebring, black Pontiac Firebird, 2002 blue Ford Mustang, 2001 GMC Sierra, 2002 Honda EXT, 1993 Honda Helix, 2003 maroon and silver Chevrolet conversion van, 2003 black Dodge Ram 1500, 2002 silver Chevrolet Corvette, Seadoo Bombardier Speedster Jet Boat, 2003 blue Yamaha motocross bike, 2003 black Dodge 2500 quad cab truck; From Wisconsin: 2000 white Chevrolet Silverado, 2003 blue Chevrolet S-10 truck, 2000 red GMC Sierra 1500 truck, 1997 gray, black and white Chevrolet truck, 1999 black Dodge Ram 2500 and a 2003 black Mustang.

Ricky Bedell, 25, of Taylors Falls, also pleaded guilty and served his time on charges related to the theft ring. Hee currently is in the Chisago County jail on other charges.

John Denesen, 24, of Rush City, was released on bail and is awaiting trial.

Wade Williams, 25, of North Branch, also was released on bail and is awaiting trial.

Jeremy Michels, 19, of Pine City, and Kenneth Rauschnot, 19, of Pine City, served their time for their involvement in the crimes and are released.

Curtis Clippard, 24, pleaded guilty on some charges and is awaiting trial on others.

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