Mall guards accused of strange stealing

Three Rosedale, Minn., security guards were charged with stealing a bizarre assortment of items -- including shoelaces, boxer shorts and a pink rubber duck.

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The three Rosedale Center mall guards -- Paul Thomas Fransen, Corey Lewis Woodhams and Ryan Mitchell Schwerin -- were charged Thursday with stealing the items in addition to Bath & Body Works lotions, skateboards, cell phones, a flat-screen television, a margarita machine, cuff links, a tea kettle and other goods totaling about $20,000 in value from the mall, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported Friday.

Court documents say boxes of stolen items were found during searches of the suspects' Minneapolis and Roseville apartments. The documents say some of the items were sold on eBay, fenced or returned to stores for cash refunds while others were used by the suspected thieves themselves.

"They were essentially living off stolen property," said Roseville police Capt. Rick Mathwig.

"What investigators took surpassed what they left (behind)," Mathwig said of the apartment raids.