The man dubbed the "shoe boy" burglar combined his talents and a background in construction to get good at breaking and entering, his girlfriend told police.
Mark Rei Zero, charged in a string of business thefts across Fargo, knew the best way to pop out a window with a crow bar because of his prior construction work, April Jean Anderson told police. He also knew his electronics - and how to spot security alarms, she said.
Zero had on-the-job training, too: The 32-year-old once went to prison for so many burglaries with Anderson that authorities needed a truck to move all the stolen property from their former Anoka County (Minn.) home, Anderson said.
Those details came in police reports released Wednesday in Cass County District Court. Zero, who was arrested Friday in Moorhead, is now charged with felony theft and felony burglary in Cass County.
He is being held in the Clay County Jail on a felony charge of receiving stolen property.
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Police have said more charges are likely when they finish reviewing more than 3,000 pieces of evidence taken from his home last week.
Investigators have linked the man to thefts from eight Fargo businesses and suspect him in more than 30 cases.
Zero declined an interview this week.
Anderson, 25, shared an apartment with Zero in Moorhead at 924 24th Ave. S. She was there when police served their search warrant.
She told officers she strongly suspected Zero was back into burglaries, even though he had promised to quit. Anderson, who said she had a child with Zero, told police she helped him commit burglaries a couple of years ago when they lived in Anoka County, near the Twin Cities.
She said he liked to hit complexes, where one window gave access to several businesses.
Eventually they were caught, however, and Zero served at least three years in prison, she said. Her sentence was cut short because of a pregnancy, she said.
In Moorhead, Zero made just under $30,000 a year doing service calls as a technician for Patterson Dental Co. in Fargo, she said. A woman who answered a call to the company said she could not talk about the case.
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Police created the "shoe boy" moniker because of the shoe prints they found at the crime scenes.
Anderson told police she didn't participate in the Fargo-Moorhead burglaries.
Forum reporter Amy Dalrymple contributed to this article Readers can reach Forum reporter Dave Forster at (701) 241-5538
