Four plead guilty

in Unidoor fire

Guilty pleas

accepted in

exchange for less jail time

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

GAYLORD -- Four women explained their involvement in the April fire that claimed the Gaylord Unidoor warehouse while on the witness stand on Monday.

The women each made plea bargains with Sibley County prosectors to felony criminal charges that drastically reduced the amount of jail time they face. The four cases are the only charges to come out of what seemed to be a string of suspicious fires in Sibley County in April. A grain elevator in nearby WInthrop burned one week after the Unidoor fire and an arson attempt was made in Arlington two weeks after that fire, but authorities have said they have no evidence linking the three incidents.

The Unidoor fire was said to be the largest fire in the city of Gaylord in 30 years. It was discovered by a Gaylord police officer on patrol during the early hours of April 20. Firefighters from seven area cities brought the blaze under control within 13 hours. The State Fire Marshal estimated the damage at $2 million.

Sibley County prosecutors brought charges against Judy Winkelmann, 21, Angela Manteuffel, 25, both of Gaylord, Nicole Raduenz, 18, of Silver Lake, and Toni Benjamin, 18, of Glencoe in mid-July.

According to criminal complaints WInkelmann, a former Unidoor employee, broke into the warehouse with the other three women simply to vent anger at her employer.

The four women testified that they drank alcoholic beverages first at Winkelmann's apartment, then at a Gaylord bar, and again at the apartment where the talk turned to the Unidoor warehouse, which is across State Highway 19 from Winkelmann's apartment building.

"We were bored and stupid," said Benjamin during questioning from her attorney, Michelle Barley, in response to a question about what happened at Winkelmann's apartment before the break-in. "We only intended just to break in."

The women said they broke into the warehouse by smashing a door window. Manteuffel said WInkelmann set the fire by spraying lighter fluid onto a stack of wooden freight pallets. The four women tried to put the fire out and left after they thought it was extinguished, only to see the flames from the window of Winkelmann's apartment.

All four women entered guilty pleas to aiding and abetting arson in the first degree. Additional charges of third-degree burglary against Winkelmann and Manteuffel were dismissed in plea agreements.

Sibley County District Judge Thomas J. McCarthy accepted the women's pleas and found them guilty on the charges. He ordered them to return for sentencing on Feb. 9 and released them on their own recognizance.

"This is a tragedy for everybody, as far as I'm concerned, "said defense attorney William Cowell, who represented Manteuffel. "There are no winners. Just loosers."

Sibley County Attorney David Schauer said the four women will likely serve jail sentences in the Sibley County Jail, rather than a state prison, because the state agreed to lesser sentences than the arson charges would normally have for defendants with no prior criminal records. He said the agreement will allow for a longer probation period -- 20 years -- than the charges would normally carry.