Sheriff's office straining to locate pasta thief at county fair

BENTON COUNTY, Minn. (FOX 9) - The Benton County Sheriff’s Office is requesting help solving a string of thefts at the county fair earlier this week. 

The sheriff’s office said deputies received a report on Thursday afternoon from a vendor at the Benton County Fair that several bags of pasta had been stolen from their Epicure booth sometime between opening on Aug. 3 and the night before, according to a press release on Friday.  

While investigating the pasta theft, deputies learned of two other vendors who had break-ins during the same time period. 

Ubetcha MN Grill reported its building was broken into and some of its equipment had been damaged, but nothing was reported stolen. However, the thief stole cash from the Maid Rite building, but authorities did not disclose how much money was taken.  

The sheriff’s office did not say if all three incidents were committed by the same person or how many people may have been involved. 

Anyone with information about the thefts is encouraged to contact the sheriff’s office at 320-968-7201 or leave an anonymous tip with the Tri-County CrimeStoppers here.