{"id":20721,"date":"2026-02-25T08:25:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=20721"},"modified":"2026-02-25T08:25:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-25T14:25:16","slug":"hermantown-duluth-man-charged-in-converter-theft-try","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/hermantown-duluth-man-charged-in-converter-theft-try\/","title":{"rendered":"Hermantown: Duluth Man Charged in Converter Theft Try"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hermantown, St. Louis County (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>)<\/strong> \u2014 Police say a Duluth man tried to steal a catalytic converter. He now faces charges.<\/p>\n

Court records identify the suspect as Robert J. Daugaard, of Duluth.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors charged Daugaard with felony first-degree criminal damage to property. He also faces a misdemeanor fleeing charge.<\/p>\n

What the police say happened<\/h2>\n

Police were called at about 12:38 a.m. on Feb. 20. The call came from a business owner on Miller Trunk Highway.<\/p>\n

The owner said he was watching live security video. He reported a theft in progress at Autobahn Sales and Service<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Police say the video showed a man trying car doors. The man also went under vehicles.<\/p>\n

Officers arrived and saw a man running between parked cars. Police say he ran toward the back of the lot.<\/p>\n

Officers ordered the man to stop. Police say he ran a short distance.<\/p>\n

Police then made a K-9 warning. Police say the man stopped and walked back. He was taken into custody.<\/p>\n

Police then checked an Audi on the lot. They saw fresh footprints near the car, police said.<\/p>\n

Officers also saw fresh cuts in the exhaust pipe. The cuts were near the catalytic converter, police said.<\/p>\n

Police say they found fresh metal shavings under the car. A blue handheld flashlight was still on.<\/p>\n

Police say security video showed Daugaard holding a battery-powered saw. The video also showed sparks under the Audi.<\/p>\n

Police estimate repair costs at $3,672.<\/p>\n

\"Robert
Robert J. Daugaard<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charges and how to follow the case<\/h2>\n

The property damage charge is listed under Minn. Stat. \u00a7 609.595<\/a>. The fleeing-on-foot charge is listed under Minn. Stat. \u00a7 609.487<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Police say Daugaard was told there was clear video. He replied, \u201cIf it\u2019s on video, it\u2019s on video.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case is pending in St. Louis County District Court. Public records may be available through Minnesota Court Records Online (MCRO)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Daugaard is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hermantown, St. Louis County (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 Police say a Duluth man tried to steal a catalytic converter. He now faces charges. Court records identify the suspect as Robert J. Daugaard, of Duluth. Prosecutors charged Daugaard with felony first-degree criminal damage to property. He also faces a misdemeanor fleeing charge. What the police say happened Police… Continue reading Hermantown: Duluth Man Charged in Converter Theft Try<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[5474,14247,14246,770,14249,772,950,958,948,2171,8544,14245,151,3245,1025,14248,1246,1051,786,154],"class_list":["post-20721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-audi","tag-autobahn-sales-and-service","tag-catalytic-converter-theft","tag-charged","tag-converter","tag-crime","tag-criminal-damage-to-property","tag-duluth","tag-duluth-man","tag-fleeing-police","tag-hermantown","tag-hermantown-mn","tag-man","tag-mcro","tag-minnesota-court-records","tag-robert-j-daugaard","tag-st-louis-county","tag-theft","tag-trf-news","tag-try","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20721"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20724,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20721\/revisions\/20724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}