Former MN Mayor Accused Of Breaking Into Current Mayor's Home

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The former mayor of a small Minnesota town is facing burglary charges after allegedly breaking into the current mayor's home over the weekend.

The West Central Tribune reports that Joseph Mark Rongstad, the former mayor of Watson, Minnesota, is charged with first- and second-degree burglary. He's accused of an early Sunday morning break-in at the home of his neighbor across the street, Kyle Jones, the town's current mayor.

The newspaper says that, according to court documents, Jones said that Rongstad believes the city of Watson "has a conspiracy going against him."

According to a criminal complaint, members of the Jones family were woken overnight by noises in the house. The next morning, they found items in their home had been moved, others were missing, and upstairs there was a lanyard with keys that didn't belong to them.

Jones suspected Rongstad.

When authorities found Rongstad, he was sleeping in a pickup truck behind his home's garage. When asked what he did overnight, he couldn't remember.

However, he did confirm that the keys found in Jones' home belonged to him, and a deputy used them to start Rongstad's truck. Rongstad was then arrested.

After he was booked into the Yellow Medicine County Jail, authorities found a Swiss army knife on Rongstad with Jones' name on it and a set of keys belonging to Jones.

Rongstad is slated to be in court next week.

Meanwhile, he's also facing a charge of recklessly discharging a gun in a February incident where he allegedly fired a rifle through the sunroof of his truck. According to the newspaper, he told authorities that he was "trying to get away from the corpses that were after him."