Woman charged with breaking into St. Peter storage units

A woman is accused of burglarizing a $2,000 bicycle and an air conditioner from two storage units in St. Peter.

Ariel Ann Serda, 31, of New Prague, is charged with 12 counts, including felony burglary in the second and third degree, aiding and abetting burglary in the second and third degree, and felony and misdemeanor counts for theft and aiding and abetting theft.

According to the charges, a staff member at a St. Peter storage facility alerted the St. Peter Police Department to two units which had locks cut off them on Jan. 29, 2024. Both units were locked at 2 p.m. Jan. 28, but when the staff member returned at 10 a.m. Jan. 29, the storage units were missing locks and appeared to have been rifled through.

The renters of the storage units confirmed that valuable items were missing. Two co-renters of a single unit told police that a $2,000 bicycle was taken, while the renter of the other unit notified law enforcement that their window-sized air conditioner was gone. The air conditioner was found inside the storage unit the bicycle was stolen from.

Law enforcement reviewed surveillance footage which showed a white vehicle missing a front license plate backing up to the units between 9:23 p.m. and 9:56 p.m. on the evening of Jan. 28. The doors of the units were open and the shadows of two people moving with flashlights appeared visible on the security camera.

Surveillance footage from a local gas station appeared to show the same white vehicle stop there around the time of the theft. From the back license plate, law enforcement identified the vehicle as a 2022 Kia Sportage belonging to Serda. A man appeared to be driving the vehicle while a woman sat in the passenger seat.

Serda’s fiance was considered a primary suspect of the break-in based on the surveillance footage and on Feb. 15 law enforcement received a warrant to search his person and property. Law enforcement responded by telling the man that if he returned the bicycle there would be no need to search his house. The man led police to his residence and handed disassembled parts of the bicycle to the responding officer.

Serda told law enforcement that she was the one who cut the locks to the storage units and that she was the one who should be charged for the break-in. She also explained that she only took the bicycle because their vehicle was too small to move the air conditioning unit.