A tip to Crime Stoppers led to the arrest of two men in connection to a crime spree in Waverly overnight Friday into Saturday.
A county vehicle was broken into and clothing and other items were taken. A Toyota Tundra was taken from the driveway of a home. A man noticed a suspicious man throwing items into the bed of a pickup who then took off. That man then noticed his pickup had been rummaged through and saw a different man walking nearby. He confronted that man and that led to an physical altercation. The driver of the pickup returned, got out and assaulted the victim before leaving the scene. A man visiting the victim reported golf clubs that were inside his vehicle were taken.
Lancaster County Sheriff Terry Wagner says they released ring doorbell photos of one of the suspects on Wednesday. That led to investigators to 4301 N 24th Street around 1:20 p.m. Wednesday. Investigators located Michael Rengstorf in a Dodge Ram pickup that had been reported stolen on January 4th in Lincoln. The pickup had fictitious license plates.
Wagner says they also located the Toyota Tundra, items taken from the county vehicle, the golf clubs and a number of other stolen items from Lincoln.
During the investigation, a vehicle pulled up to the address on N 24th street and quickly took off. That vehicle was later located in a Walmart parking lot and Matthew Krisel of Council Bluffs was taken into custody.
Rengstorf was booked for two counts of theft by unlawful taking, one felony and one misdemeanor. During the investigation, Rengstorf was also in possession of 36 grams of methamphetamine, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, drug paraphernalia, and marijuana. He is also facing drug charges. He also had a number of outstanding warrants.
Krisel had several outstanding warrants for his arrest. He was also booked for theft and assault.
This is an extensive investigation and Wagner says there is still work to be done on this case. The investigation continues.