A Duluth man pleaded guilty today to robbing a Duluth Laundromat in October and burglarizing two Duluth residences on Christmas Eve.
Michael Scott Sampson, 18, pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary in connection with the Christmas Eve incidents. According to the criminal complaint, a woman living on the 1000 block of West Fourth Street reported that when she arrived home about 11:15 p.m. that night, her back door was open and a 42-inch flat-screen television, a 32-inch flat-screen television, a laptop computer, a portable DVD player and other items were missing from her home.
Duluth police officers followed footprints in the snow leading from the house, through the backyard and into an alley. The stolen property was found leaning up against a large tree.
Police said there had been a pattern of residential burglaries where suspects hid stolen property at a nearby location and returned later with a vehicle to retrieve it. So police watched the spot.
As an officer waited in an alley, a dark blue minivan drove up before turning around and driving out of the alley. The officer followed the van, activated his emergency lights and stopped the vehicle. Three suspects ran in different directions.
ADVERTISEMENT
Officers apprehended Sampson and a 17-year-old juvenile.
It was later discovered that a residence on the 800 block of West Sixth Street had been burglarized earlier in the evening, a crime reported about 10 p.m. A 12-gauge shotgun, a laptop, a Nintendo game system, jewelry and other items were stolen. An empty gun case, 12-gauge shotgun shells and two heavily loaded duffel bags filled with stolen property were found in the stolen minivan.
Sampson also pleaded guilty to simple robbery. He admitted robbing the Great Lakes Laundromat, 2301 W. Superior St., on Oct. 31. He and another man made off with the business's cash register.
Judge David Johnson ordered that an Arrowhead Regional Corrections probation officer investigate Sampson's background before sentencing on March 30.
