The Joseph Co.

Monday, November 13, 2000

The Joseph Co., 2003 14th St. NE, is missing forged checks in the amount of $59,483.

According to an Austin Police Department report, the thefts were discovered by two payroll clerks and may have occurred in early October.

After the thefts were discovered, the firm notified Wells Fargo Bank of Austin and payment was stopped, but not before 68 of 107 missing checks were forged with the firm’s owner’s signature and cashed.

The thefts remain under investigation.

Burglary interrupted

GRAND MEADOW – David Cox, his wife and their 11-month-old child were asleep in a camper parked inside K&D Auto Repair early Sunday morning.

The couple are staying in the camper while a new home is built, according to a Mower County Sheriff’s Department report.

But when the couple heard the sound of breaking glass, David Cox stepped outside the camper and into a burglary in progress.

Cox saw a 6-foot-tall, stocky man and confronted him. The intruder swung a tire wrench at the business owner and a scuffled ensued in the dark.

Cox fell to the floor, according to the Sheriff’s Department report, and the burglary suspect ran from the building, but not before leaving behind a blue and green sports jacket and a pair of size-12 sandals.

Cox suffered minor injuries in foiling the burglary attempt. He estimated damages to his business at $200.

Stolen car recovered

The Mower County Sheriff’s Department recovered a vehicle reported stolen from Austin Friday evening.

According to Austin Police and Mower County Sheriff’s departments’ reports, the 1996 Dodge Stratus was reported stolen from Troy and Theresa Tucker, 704 19th St. SW, sometime Friday evening.

The car was spotted by a Fillmore County Sheriff’s Department deputy Saturday afternoon and a chase began.

When it ended at an intersection of 240th Street east of Mower County No. 19, all four tires on the vehicle were punctured by spikes employed by the Sheriff’s Department.

However, the driver refused to pull over, while running on rims and a Minnesota State Patrol trooper was forced to ram him with his vehicle’s push bars and shove the stolen car into a ditch and put it out of commission, according to a Mower County Sheriff’s Department report.

Michael Robert Nelson, 20, of Austin, was taken into custody, pending charges being filed.

Fires investigated

Two motorists driving by a duplex at 504 1/2 Ninth Ave. SW observed flames coming from a window last Thursday and called 911.

When Austin Fire Department firefighters arrived at 12:26 a.m. Thursday, they were able to bring the fire under control.

The renter, Charles Nicholas, told investigators the fire may have originated from a gas fireplace.

The Austin Fire Department estimated Nicholas’ loss at $15,000, but it is covered by renter’s insurance, according to the report of the incident.

Also over the weekend, Austin police and firefighters were called to the scene of two trash fires at roofing projects.

The fires were extinguished by firefighters without reports of any other damages except the discarded roofing materials in the dumpsters.

Party broken up

Neighbors who smelled a strong, pungent odor said they feared for the health and safety of a baby when they called police to an apparent "pot party" late Saturday evening.

According to an Austin Police Department report, when officers arrived at the apartment at 10:15 p.m. Saturday at 119 Third Ave. NE, they were greeted by the same odor as well as a thick haze of smoke and several adults with marijuana and smoking paraphernalia.

Maynard Backoffen, 19, of Easton Rapids, Mich., and Christine Weis, 25, of Austin, face drug-related charges, according to the report.

A child, 7 months old, was asleep in a crib in the apartment and the child protection division of the Mower County Department of Human Services was notified of possible child endangerment.