Reward offered for arson, vandalism info

Dan Nienaber
The Free Press

MANKATO May 07, 2008 10:48 pm

— Two arson fires and a string of property damage incidents reported Wednesday are likely related, Blue Earth County Sheriff’s Department deputies reported Wednesday.
State fire marshals are investigating two abandoned house fires that were reported within an hour of each other Wednesday morning. A reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspects who set the fires.
Deputies are also asking rural residents to immediately report any suspicious activity.
The first fire, at an abandoned house about three miles north of Minnesota Lake, was reported at 5:21 a.m. The home was destroyed by fire and there was evidence that it was intentionally lit, the Sheriff’s Department reported. A second fire at another abandoned house was reported at 6:19 a.m. That house, also destroyed by the blaze, was about three miles east of Mapleton.
Deputies were flagged down by a farm hand at the John Shanahan farm on 124th Street, near Mapleton, at 10 a.m. Workers there reported five lambs had been killed, several more had been injured and windows had been broken out of a machine shed.
Evidence showed the lambs had been struck with an object, investigators reported.
There also were seven reports of mailbox vandalism at residences between the two fires and Faribault County is investigating similar incidents. Blue Earth County investigators said all of the incidents in both counties could be related.
Anyone with information about the fires and other vandalism should call the Sheriff’s Department at 387-8740.