Mpls. man pleads in multiple burglaries

A Minneapolis man pleaded guilty to a felony charge of receiving stolen property last Tuesday in a case that may have set a local record for criminal counts against an individual in one file.

Michael Orlando Miller, 36, Minneapolis, was convicted of a single count of receiving stolen property in a Nov. 11th plea agreement in which 42 other charges of theft, receiving stolen property and burglary spanning a period from 2001 to 2008 were read into the record for restitution and dismissed.

In addition, three felony and one misdemeanor case that included 12 similar charges were read into the record for restitution and dismissed. Felony methamphetamine related charges against Miller from a 2007 case were also dismissed.

Miller was charged after a search warrant was conducted at a Carefree Storage Unit in Hudson in Jan. 2008 that produced a number of items that had been reported stolen in Bayport, Minn., and Hudson. Officers later recovered items reported stolen in River Falls, the towns of St. Joseph, Hudson, Warren and River Falls, after search warrants were conducted on Miller's residence and a storage unit in Bayport.

St. Croix County Sheriff's apprehended Miller, who lived in Bayport at the time, when he attempted to ship a stolen tool he advertised on E-Bay to a potential buyer at the Hudson UPS store. The arrest led to the search warrants. Miller also lived in the town of Hudson at one time.

Sheriff's investigator Jim Mikla said a victim recognized the roofing tool on E-Bay and contacted authorities.

The court ordered a pre-sentence investigation was ordered.

Tags: news, hudson, miller, burglaries