{"id":36500,"date":"2026-07-07T18:22:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=36500"},"modified":"2026-07-04T19:05:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T00:05:27","slug":"battle-lake-worker-charged-in-bait-shop-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/battle-lake-worker-charged-in-bait-shop-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle Lake Worker Charged in Bait Shop Theft"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Battle Lake Worker Charged in Bait Shop Theft<\/h2>\n

Battle Lake<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Fergus Falls man faces a theft charge involving a local bait shop.<\/p>\n

Colton Roger Shjerve is charged in Otter Tail County District Court. The case is listed under court file 56-CR-26-1340.<\/p>\n

The complaint alleges Shjerve took cash and store items from Ben\u2019s Bait. The alleged losses happened between December 2025 and May 2026.<\/p>\n

Court records place the combined value at $511.96. The charge covers property valued above $500 but below $1,000.<\/p>\n

Earlier Cash Losses Alleged<\/h2>\n

The complaint says Shjerve worked at Ben\u2019s Bait in Battle Lake. Investigators learned about two earlier cash losses from the register.<\/p>\n

Those incidents allegedly happened in December 2025 and January 2026. The complaint places the combined cash loss at $420.<\/p>\n

Shjerve allegedly admitted taking the cash and repaid the business. The owners then allowed him to keep working.<\/p>\n

Video Reviewed After May Incident<\/h2>\n

A new report reached the Otter Tail County Sheriff\u2019s Office on May 6, 2026. It concerned items allegedly taken one day earlier.<\/p>\n

The video allegedly showed Shjerve collecting a fishing rod, reel, tackle, and sweatpants. He scanned some items before canceling the sale.<\/p>\n

The complaint says no payment was completed. Shjerve later gave the items to his girlfriend, who left with them.<\/p>\n

Store owners checked their inventory and sales records. They found no completed purchase matching the items, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Interview and Repayment<\/h2>\n

Investigators interviewed Shjerve and his girlfriend on May 20. Shjerve first said he planned to use employee credit.<\/p>\n

He later said he planned to pay during his next work shift. He also admitted that some tackle was not scanned.<\/p>\n

The complaint says Shjerve contacted the owners later that day. He met with them, paid for the items, and apologized.<\/p>\n

The May items were valued at $91.96. Combined with the earlier cash, the alleged total reached $511.96.<\/p>\n

Charge and Possible Sentence<\/h2>\n

Shjerve faces one count of theft without the owner\u2019s consent. The charge falls under Minnesota Statute 609.52<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A gross misdemeanor conviction can bring up to 364 days in jail. It can also carry a fine of up to $3,000.<\/p>\n

More information about Minnesota court records is available through the Minnesota Judicial Branch<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A criminal complaint contains allegations and does not prove guilt. Shjerve is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper, reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 TRF News. All rights reserved.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Battle
Battle Lake Worker Charged in Bait Shop Theft<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Fergus Falls man faces a gross misdemeanor theft charge after court records allege repeated losses at a Battle Lake bait shop in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36501,"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":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"","_twitter_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type":"","_pinterest_share_type":"","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_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":[4980,9796,770,772,1455,671,1051,2031],"class_list":["post-36500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-bait","tag-battle","tag-charged","tag-crime","tag-lake","tag-shop","tag-theft","tag-worker","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36500","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=36500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36502,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36500\/revisions\/36502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}