On January 28, 2025, between approximately 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office received two burglary complaints and a suspicious person complaint in Melrose Township and neighboring Millwood Township just outside the city of Melrose.
Stearns County Sheriff’s Deputies and Investigators from the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office responded to the numerous calls for service to investigate. Through the course of the investigation, information was obtained that identified the possible suspect in connection with the burglaries and the suspicious person call as Carlos Lee Rey Garza, 32, of Eden Valley.
During the course of the investigation Garza was seen leaving a residence in a vehicle in the township of Melrose. A Sheriff’s Deputy followed the vehicle into the city of Melrose where the deputy and Melrose Police Department officer conducted a traffic stop. Garza was informed he was being detained related to a burglary investigation and then fled from the traffic stop at a high rate of speed into downtown Melrose. Law enforcement did not pursue the vehicle due to the driving conduct.
Garza attempted to turn onto Main Street from County Road 13 heading west when he lost control of the vehicle he was driving and crashed into a pole and building. Garza fled on foot from the crash scene.
Additional resources were requested, including Stearns County Sheriff’s Office K9 Rex. K9 Rex was deployed and alerted to a box truck just south of the crash scene. The truck was surrounded, and instructions were given to Garza to come out. He failed to comply with deputies and officers. Sheriff’s Deputies deployed chemical irritants into the truck with a non-lethal launcher. Garza then surrendered to law enforcement without further incident and was taken to the Melrose Hospital for evaluation.
Garza was arrested and is currently in the Stearns County Jail pending formal charges including burglary, fleeing police in a motor vehicle, DWI, tampering with a motor vehicle, and leaving the scene of a property damage crash.
Garza had very minor injuries related to the motor vehicle crash. No one else was injured during the course of these events.
The Stearns County Sheriff’s Office was assisted by the Melrose Police Department, Sauk Centre Police Department, Conservation Officers from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, and Melrose Ambulance.
The investigation remains active.
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