Police: Anoka County burglar hits unlocked homes, returns; yep, still unlocked

A 20-year-old Coon Rapids, Minn., man has been furiously exploiting unlocked homes in his city and burglarizing them, authorities said. Sometimes he’d find that the residents didn’t learn their lesson, police noted, and would return and find the homes still unlocked and ripe for thievery.
Suspected of pulling off 15 burglaries and attempting another 30 in recent months, Jacob D. Shultz was charged last week in Anoka County District Court with five counts of first-degree burglary. Shultz was arrested Wednesday and remains jailed in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Some of the crimes occurred while residents were at home, according to the charges. Shultz often stole small amounts of cash and cigarettes, the charges continued.
All of the burglaries occurred at homes where doors were unlocked, often garage service doors or sliding doors leading directly into the homes.
Shultz returned to some of the same unlocked homes over the course of several weeks and struck again, police said. He hit one residence “several times,” the charging document read.
Acting on information from their investigation, police interviewed Shultz early in the morning Wednesday, when he admitted to entering a home “several times and (had) stolen money or attempted to steal money,” the complaint read.
The earliest burglary he admitted to occurred on Jan. 11, a home on Zion Street Northwest. Shultz said he burglarized that home three to five times by entering through an unlocked sliding door. There was at least one person home sleeping in each instance.