Crime & Safety

Tangletown Burglar Trying To Win Lottery, Say Police

Police say Antoine Redaldo Willis smashed in the windows of two southwest Minneapolis convenience stores in July and stole hundreds of lottery tickets.

A Brooklyn Park man has been charged with burglarizing one Southwest Minneapolis convenience store and another in West Calhoun in July and stealing lottery tickets.

Antoine Redaldo Willis, 50, is charged with third-degree burglary, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by Minneapolis Police Sgt. James Spencer, a was burglarized July 10 by a suspect or suspects who smashed in the glass on the building’s front door with a brick and stole three trays of lottery tickets.

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On July 19, someone smashed in the front window of a SuperAmerica station in the 3800 block of Lake Street West and stole two drawers full of lottery tickets.

Both burglaries were captured on surveillance video, which showed two men smashing out the glass doors, according to the complaint.

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On Aug. 4, Minneapolis police learned that two people, including Willis, had been arrested in Plymouth with stolen lottery tickets. One of the suspects told police that he and another man were picked up in a van driven by Willis, who drove them to different locations to cash in the stolen tickets, according to the complaint.

Police also discovered that Willis had been issued a ticket while driving the van, and they tracked down the van and connected a GPS tracking device to it. Officers received alerts via text message when the van began to move between the hours of 2:30 and 6 a.m.

On Aug. 22, state lottery officials informed police that another gas station burglary had been reported, and lottery tickets had been stolen. Officials said some of the tickets had been cashed in at a gas station in north Minneapolis; police checked the GPS tracking website and traced the van’s location.

Officers drove to the spot and arrested Willis.

Willis admitted to police that he had been responsible for both convenience store burglaries in southwest Minneapolis, the complaint says.

Willis remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $20,000 bond and a Minnesota Department of Corrections hold. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Oct. 10 in Hennepin County District Court.


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