Four face charges for Unidoor fire

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

GAYLORD -- Prosecutors charged four people on Monday for the fire at the Unidoor Corporation plant here in April.

Charged were Judy Winkelmann, 21, Angela Manteuffel, 25, both of Gaylord; Nicole Raduenz, 18, of Silver Lake; and Toni Benjamin, 18, of Glencoe.

The four women were charged in Sibley County District Court with one count of first-degree arson and one count of third-degree burglary. Winkelmann and Manteuffel are facing one additional first-degree arson charge each.

Bail has not been set, and no arrests had been made because authorities do not think the suspects will leave the area. The four are expected in court on Aug. 14.

One of the suspects, Winkelmann, is a former Unidoor worker who was angry at her employer, according to court documents. Complaints claim that the other three women went along to help her.

The Unidoor fire claimed the company's 45,000-square foot warehouse and machine shop on April 20. Damages exceeded $2 million.

The investigation into the Unidoor fire had stalled until recently, when Gaylord police received a tip from someone who supposedly talked to a couple people who claimed they started the fire, according to the criminal complaints.

Under Minnesota law, a charge of first-degree arson has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $20,000. The law give the maximum sentence for third-degree burglary as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

A reward of $2,500 was issued by the state arson investigator's association for any information about the fire.

Investigators from the Minnesota State Fire Marshal's Office, the Sibley County Sheriff's Department and the Gaylord Police Department interviewed several firefighters who were on the scene and learned that some glass was broken out of a door on the southeast end of the building. They also interviewed Unidoor employees, but no clear leads came from the interviews, the complaints state.

A break came in mid June when a concerned citizen reported that a cousin talked to Winkelman and Manteuffel. The tip was forwarded to the Sibley County Sheriff's Department, who interviewed the cousin.

According to court documents, that person claimed Manteuffel confided in the cousin about the events of Easter Sunday, April 20.

The four women allegedly broke into the the Unidoor plant, where Winkelman sprayed lighter fluid on some wooden freight pallets to "start a small fire," the complaint stated. All four women are said to have put duct tape on their shoes and wore gloves at the time they were inside the plant.

The complaints state that Benjamin and Winkelman denied having any involvement with the fire, although Winkelmann confirmed that she was a Unidoor employee. Raduenz refused to give a statement. Manteuffel told Deputy Fire Marshal Casey Stotts and Sibley County investigator Ellerd Mathwig that she and the other suspects went to Unidoor with the intention of causing minor damage, the complaints stated.

Manteuffel said she thought she put the fire out shortly after Winkelman supposedly lit the palettes, but after they got back to Winkelman's apartment and heard fire sirens, they looked outside and saw the Unidoor building was on fire, the complaints stated.

Glencoe police interviewed Benjamin a few days after Stotts and Mathwig. During that interview, Benjamin explained that she was in Gaylord the night before the fire with the other three suspects and three men. She said all six were drinking at a bar in Gaylord and went back to Winkelman's apartment for more drinks after the bar closed. She stated "they were bored and wanted something to do. The four women then went over to Unidoor and tried to break in," the complaints stated.

The first attempted break-in was unsuccessful, but Winkelman supposedly got into another building, where she allegedly lit the wooden pallet on fire with her cigarette lighter.

It appeared to be the first in a chain of suspicious fires in Sibley County. A fire of similar size destroyed a grain elevator in nearby Winthrop one week later. That fire was followed by an attempted arson at a lumber yard in Arlington one week after that fire.

Sibley County Sheriff Bruce Ponath said, "There's nothing that suggests that they're related. Gaylord seems an isolated incident. In Winthrop, we never determined the cause, and Arlington was an attempted arson, but we're still following up on leads."