Man charged with damage to property, harassment of interracial family in Cold Spring

A Richmond, Minnesota man faces multiple charges consisting of theft, stalking, damage to property and harassment in a series of incidents that happened in Cold Spring this past weekend.

Charges in Stearns County state 32-year-old Benton Louis Beyer faces one count of theft, one count of stalking, one count of damage to property in the first degree and one count of harassment in violating a restraining order. The victims of these crimes involve an interracial family, according to multiple Facebook posts from the woman who has filed a restraining order and is the mother and wife in the family. However, this case has not been declared a hate crime as of Tuesday afternoon.

A criminal complaint says, at about 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, police responded to a stolen vehicle report at a residence located on the 300 block of Third Avenue South in Cold Spring on a report of a stolen vehicle. He believed it was stolen by Beyer, saying he stole his keys "a couple weeks prior" and never returned them. The caller added that he heard his vehicle start and immediately went outside and said he was "pretty sure" it was Beyer who was in the driver’s seat as it backed away.

Minutes later, dispatch received a report of a vehicle that had crashed into a residence located on the 600 block of Emma Drive SE in Cold Spring. There, officers responded and found the vehicle unoccupied and had a large piece of granite sitting on the accelerator. Officers spoke with the woman who lives at the address, who provided Ring doorbell surveillance footage of the crash. The footage shows the vehicle stopped at an intersection across the street from the residence. Then, it shows a person dressed in a black shirt and light-colored shorts get out of the driver’s seat and run into a field nearby. The vehicle proceeds forward until it crashes into the residence, the complaint states.

Officers attempted to search for the suspect but said the field was "extremely wet and difficult to navigate through," so the search was terminated.

The crash caused extensive damage to the family’s residence, including damage to the siding, Sheetrock, property around the interior and exterior of the residence and potentially the roof. According to the complaint, the impact of the crash was so strong that it moved a vehicle inside the residence’s garage. Photos show a stuffed animal bear hung by the neck inside the vehicle.

The woman reported her residence was occupied at the time of the crash and that one of her children was sleeping on the couch in the living room. She explained that the living room is just a short distance away from where the vehicle crashed into the front of the residence. The woman believed it was Beyer who had crashed the vehicle into her home and that she is "terrified" of him, according to the complaint. She told police there is an active Harassment Restraining Order (HRO) in place protecting her from Beyer. An HRO was issued on May 21, prohibiting Beyer from any contact with the woman for two years.

After reviewing recent history involving Beyer, 18 calls within the past two months were made involving him, regarding his stalking and harassment of the woman. Most recently, court records show Beyer was arrested on July 15 in Waite Park and released from custody on July 19 for an incident where he is alleged to have been following/stalking the woman, in violation of the HRO.

Beyer was arrested in relation to the complaint described above at around 10 a.m. on Saturday in Cold Spring. He also has a prior qualified domestic violence-related offense conviction for assault in the second degree in 2012.

A fundraiser has been set up to help with the family’s expenses for the damage to the house.