Level 3 offender found guilty of burglary

Published 10:00 pm Thursday, June 14, 2018

A jury found an Albert Lea Level 3 offender guilty of second-degree burglary on Wednesday in Freeborn County District Court.

Jabar Morarend

Court documents state Jabar Pedro Morarend, 46, was charged after officers responded the morning of Jan. 26 to a report of a suspicious person and burglary in Freeborn County.

Email newsletter signup

Dresser doors in a bedroom were all partially opened, and the homeowner said she did not leave them that way.

Officers reportedly followed footprints from the house toward Minnesota Highway 13, finding an undershirt next to the tracks.

Court documents state the officers were led to a residence and were given permission by the homeowner to go inside.

Morarend was found in the basement of the residence behind a bed sheet hanging from steps, sitting next to a washing machine.

Tennis shoes behind the washing machine matched the prints in the snow.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 23. Morarend faces a presumptive sentence of three to nearly 4 1/2 years in prison.

Morarend in February was sentenced to one year and one day in prison after admitting to probation violations in two cases involving state lottery fraud and fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.

About Sam Wilmes

Sam Wilmes covers crime, courts and government for the Albert Lea Tribune.

email author More by Sam