Minnesota teenage thief found in Airbnb with stash of guns

Eleven guns – including automatic weapons – were found stashed in food wrappers, board game boxes and walls after an alleged 17-year-old credit card thief was captured during a boozy birthday bash at an “Airbnb turned Machinegunbnb,” police said.

Credit cards that were reported stolen from a resident of Shoreview, Minnesota, led to the suspect at the Airbnb, where police said they were “shocked” by the number of guns found. Police are investigating who is responsible for the guns being stashed there.

The investigation began Friday after a man told police he saw someone get into his work truck and steal his wallet, the Pioneer Press reported.

The man told police that he’d received notifications of charges to his stolen credit cards less than an hour later – all at a Target in Shoreview – between 11:40 a.m. and 12:15 p.m.

His bank card was now short $577, and additional transactions totaling $275 were attempted on other cards in the wallet. The Target purchase led to the suspect, Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin’s office said in a Facebook post. 

Surveillance footage compared to surveillance photos from a stolen credit card case out of Lino Lakes showed that the two cases were connected, per the local outlet. 

Law enforcement disseminated the photos, and members of the sheriff’s office Carjacking and Auto Theft Team reportedly recognized the pictured suspect. 

The next day they tracked him to a “booze-filled” party at an Airbnb on 108th Avenue in the Maple Grove area and contacted the owner, the Pioneer Press reported.

After police apprised him of the situation, the owner reportedly asked police to shut the festivities down – the rental agreement’s 10-person limit had been exceeded, Martin wrote, and rules against weapons and smoking at the rental were apparently broken. 

The attendees had also “been posting pictures on social media and smoking,” Martin said. 

More than 50 attendees between the ages of 15 and 21 were ushered out of the residence – the person who rented the house wasn’t present, police said, and it is unclear whether that person was the credit card thief. 

As they left, attendees were searched for weapons and asked to leave them in the house if they did, according to the local outlet – it is unclear whether any of the party-goers were carrying. 

Police arrested their suspected credit card thief and deputies then began to search the house. There, they found a trove of weapons in what Martin called an “Airbnb turned Machinegunbnb.”

Some guns were found in purses and backpacks. One was found in a “Heads Up!” game box, and another was stashed in an empty McDonald’s bag on the kitchen counter. 

Even more were recovered in unfinished walls, plants and furnaces, and behind TVs and furniture, Martin wrote. 

In total, 11 guns were found – several had extended magazines and “switches,” also known as “auto sears,” that converted them into machine guns “capable of firing 33 rounds of automatic fire in less than two seconds,” per the release.

Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said the number of guns was astounding – deputies “always expect a couple, but we were shocked by the number.”

“This is especially concerning because several of the party attendees are part of a ‘group’ that has enemies – or as they call them, ‘opps,’” Martin wrote. 

The undersheriff noted that state and federal law provide for 5- to 10-year sentences for automatic weapon possession – it is unclear whether minors involved would be tried as adults, or whether any remain in police custody. 

But, per another post from the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office, the alleged credit card thief “went from five-star Airbnb accommodations to the county jail.”

The Ramsey County Undersheriff’s Office could not be reached for comment at press time.

Now, police will test-fire the weapons, enter the resulting data into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to determine if they have been used in unsolved crimes, and searched for fingerprints and DNA. 

“The best part is we got 11 guns off the street that won’t shoot somebody, kill somebody you know, or be used for robbery or anything else,” Martin told Law & Crime.

Martin wished the alleged credit card thief a happy birthday, per Law & Crime, and said he was “glad we could share it with [them.]”