Man Charged with Stealing Golf Clubs from Maple Grove Garage

A Willmar man has been charged with stealing a set of women’s golf clubs from an open Maple Grove garage, telling police that a woman had given them to him.

Michael Brenden St. Clair, 31, is charged with first-degree burglary, a felony with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by Maple Grove Police Detective Robert Seidenkranz, police were called to the area of 89th Place and Dunkirk Lane on July 23 on a report of a suspicious man.

Officers found St. Clair carrying a bag containing women’s golf clubs. St. Clair initially told police that a woman named Nancy had given the clubs to him, then changed his story and offered another woman’s name, according to the complaint.

Police searched the golf bag and found a card with a woman’s name on it. While they were speaking to St. Clair, the woman’s husband approached and said the clubs belonged to his wife.

The person who initially reported the suspicious man said he was standing in front of a home in the 16600 block of 89th Place, apparently looking at a tree. The caller said he eventually walked down the road carrying nothing, but a few minutes later reappeared carrying the golf clubs.

The victim and her husband told police that they had been in and out of their house all day, leaving the garage door open most of the time. The woman said her golf clubs were in the garage next to a garbage can.

St. Clair told police that he had found the clubs in a “field,” according to the complaint.

St. Clair is free on a $60,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled Aug. 27 in Hennepin County District Court.