Police said that 11 guns, including automatic weapons, were hidden in board game boxes, food wrappers, and walls. This was after a 17-year-old credit card thief had been captured at an “Airbnb converted to Machinegunbnb” during booze-filled birthday celebrations.
The police were shocked by the number and type of firearms found at Airbnb after credit cards were reported as stolen. The police are looking into who is behind the stashed guns.
Pioneer Press reported that a man had told police he’d seen someone steal his wallet from his truck. The investigation started on Friday. The man said he received notification of charges on his stolen credit cards between 11:40 and 12:15 p.m.
The card was short $577 and other transactions totaling $275 attempted to be made on the cards. Ramsey County Undersheriff Mike Martin said that the Target purchase was what led them to the suspect in a post on Facebook.
According to a local outlet, the surveillance footage was compared with photos of a stolen credit card case from Lino Lakes and showed that both cases were linked.
The photos were distributed by law enforcement, and the members of the Carjacking and Auto Theft Team at the sheriff’s department recognized the suspect.
The Pioneer Press reported that the next day, they located him at a “booze-filled” party in an Airbnb on 108th Avenue near Maple Grove and contacted its owner.
Martin writes that after police informed him of the situation the owner asked police to close the celebrations – the rental agreement had exceeded the 10-person limit, and the rules against smoking and weapons at the rental had apparently been broken.
Martin stated that the attendees “had also been posting pictures and smoking on social media.”
Police said that more than 50 people between the ages of 15 and 21 had to be escorted out of the home. The person who rented it was not present and police are unsure if this person is the one responsible for the theft of credit cards.
According to a local publication, the attendees were asked to leave their weapons in the house as they left. It is not known if any partygoers had them.
The police arrested the suspected credit card theft and then deputies began searching the house. They found an arsenal of weapons inside what Martin described as “Airbnb converted Machinegunbnb.”
Some guns were discovered in backpacks and purses. One gun was found inside a “Heads Up!” game box. One was found in a “Heads Up!” game box and the other was hidden inside an empty McDonald’s bag.
Martin reported that even more were found in unfinished walls and plants, behind furniture and TVs, as well as behind furnaces and unfinished walls.
The release stated that 11 guns had been found. Several of them were equipped with “switches” or “auto sears,” which converted them to machine guns capable of firing 33 automatic rounds in less than 2 seconds.
Bob Fletcher, Ramsey County Sheriff, said that the number of firearms was shocking. Deputies were “always expecting a few but we were surprised by the amount.”
Martin wrote: “This is particularly concerning because many of the party-goers are members of a group that has enemies, or as they say, ‘oops’.”
The undersheriff stated that the state and federal laws provide 5-to-10-year sentences for possession of automatic weapons. It is unclear if minors would be tried as adults or if any remain in police custody.
According to another post by the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office the alleged credit-card thief, “went from five-star Airbnb accommodations to county jail.”
At the time of publication, it was not possible to reach the Ramsey County Undersheriff’s Office for a comment.
Police will now test-fire these weapons, input the resulting data in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) to determine if the weapons have been used for unsolved crimes, and search for fingerprints or DNA.
Martin told Law & Crime that the best part was that we removed 11 guns from the streets. These weapons won’t be used to shoot, kill, rob, or do anything else.
Martin wished the alleged credit card thief a happy birthday, per Law & Crime, and said he was “glad we could share it with them.”
