A Minnesota state senator from Woodbury faces a felony burglary charge after authorities say she broke into her stepmother’s Detroit lakes Minnesota home to retrieve her late father’s ashes and other sentimental items.
Nicole Mitchell, 49, a DFL lawmaker from Woodbury was arrested early Monday, April 22, 2024 after police in Detroit Lakes were called to a home for a burglary. (Courtesy of the Becker County Sheriff’s Office)
Sen. Nicole Mitchell, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmaker, was arrested early Monday morning after police found her inside the home, according to charging documents filed Tuesday in Becker County District Court.
Charges say the senator told arresting officers her father had recently died and her stepmother had stopped communicating with family members, and that she wanted her late father’s ashes, and belongings including pictures, a flannel shirt, and other items of sentimental value.
Public records and an obituary posted by a Detroit Lakes funeral home show that Mitchell’s father, who died last month, and stepmother lived on the same block of the same road in Detroit Lakes as where the senator was arrested.
According to charges:
At around 4:45 a.m. Monday, Detroit Lakes police responded to a 911 call from a woman reporting a burglary of her home in the 700 block of Granger Road in Detroit Lakes. When officers arrived, they searched the house and found a person inside.
Officers then arrested Mitchell, 49, who while being detained told the stepmother “something to the effect of” she was “just trying to get a couple of my dad’s things because you wouldn’t talk to me anymore.”
The senator was dressed in all-black clothing and was wearing a black hat. Officers also discovered a flashlight in a sock covering which court documents said appeared to be a modification to reduce the amount of light that it would emit.
Mitchell told police she had made the roughly 200-mile drive from Woodbury to Detroit Lakes starting at around 1 a.m. early Sunday morning, court documents said. She admitted to entering her stepmother’s home through a basement window where she had left a backpack containing her drivers’ license, two laptop computers and a cell phone.
“Clearly I’m not good at this,” Mitchell allegedly told officers, later adding she knew “she did something bad.”
Mitchell was booked into the Becker County jail early Monday morning on suspicion of first-degree burglary. She was scheduled to make her first appearance in court at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
First-degree burglary is a felony offense with a minimum punishment of six months in jail or a county workhouse, a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, a $35,000 fine, or both.
Becker County Brian McDonald could not immediately be reached for comment.
DFLers have 34 seats in the Senate, compared with the 33 held by Republicans. If Mitchell can’t return to the Capitol, Democrats may have trouble passing partisan legislation between now and the end of session later next month.
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