Bandow

NEW ULM — A 31-year-old New Ulm man originally charged with 14 felonies in four burglaries and an arson case was sentenced to four years in the St. Cloud Correctional Facility in Brown County District Court Monday.

Cotey J. Bandow, 308 Front St. S. was convicted of felony 2nd-degree burglary, two counts of 3rd-degree burglary, theft, arson, and 5th-degree drug possession-not small amount of marijuana. He was ordered to pay restitution amounts of $1,198.83 and $612,339.14 (in the arson case involving B&J Laundromat August 30, 2018).

According to court documents, New Ulm Police and Fire Departments were dispatched to the laundromat at 506 Center St. at 6:57 a.m. Aug. 30, after smoke was reported coming from inside it. All apartment occupants above the laundromat safely escaped the fire.

Police reviewed a laundromat video surveillance system including videos and photos showing a man recognized as Bandow trying to break into a storage area before a fire started. He fled in a brown van with faded, chipped paint that was later traced to Bandow’s residence. He was arrested later that day while driving the suspect van. It was searched and found to contain three baskets of damp clothing.

Bandow was also charged with credit card fraud, theft and burglary in three other Brown County cases. He was suspected of burglarizing three Brown County businesses and a residence in August 2018.

Southwide Auto Salvage of New Ulm was burglarized sometime between Aug. 25 and 27. A concertina and a credit card were reported missing.

Mobile home park residents reported a moped, lawnmower and bicycle missing from outside the residence and tools taken inside the home on Aug. 27.

The owner of R&R Bait & Tackle of New Ulm reported an Aug. 29 break-in which three handguns were taken from a display case. Money was reported taken from a pull-tab booth in an Aug. 29 burglary at Carl’s Corner in Essig.

Many of the stolen items were later found at a Lewisville residence where a friend of Bandow lives. One of Bandow’s friends told investigators Bandow said he burglarized three businesses.

An investigator accessed location data on Bandow’s cellphone and determined he was in Essig at the time of the burglary there.

Bandow admitted to stealing a lawnmower and directed authorities to where they could recover some of the stolen property, to property belonging to one of his friends.

Deputy Brown County Attorney Dan Kalk called Bandow’s arrest and prosecution “a product of fantastic investigatory work by our police department and sheriff’s office.”

“It was a true team effort,” Kalk said. “Our investigators followed multiple leads that led to the successful prosecution of at least four separate burglaries of local businesses and an arson charge Mr. Bandow perpetrated in just a few days last August.”

Kalk said he was grateful to law enforcement and the New Ulm Fire Department’s rapid response to the laundromat fire that almost certainly saved a life that day.

Mankato Public Defender Greg Handevidt said he thought Bandow was a very good Drug Court placement candidate.

“He served more than a year in jail. I think everything he did was driven by addiction. He doesn’t have a violent criminal history,” Handevidt said. “He broke into an outbuilding in 2015, then was doing pretty well, then fell off the wagon in 2018, running around with people high on meth for three days. He is the kind of person Drug Court was made for. But we respect the Court’s judgement.”

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.