BALTIC, S.D. (KELO) – Authorities are trying to figure out how a semi and trailer – loaded with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Amazon packages ended up in South Dakota.
According to court documents filed in Minnehaha County, the truck was supposed to go from Las Vegas to Waco, Texas but never arrived.
Early in the morning on June 24th, a Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Deputy pulled up behind a truck pulling a U-haul trailer at a gas station off of I-29 in Baltic. It turns out that the trailer was stolen and it quickly turned into a much bigger investigation.
“The individual that was driving that vehicle that had the stolen trailer, rented a few storage units in the area. He allowed us to search one of those storage units, and that’s when we noticed some Amazon boxes in the storage unit,” Captain Josh Phillips with the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office said.
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That individual was 41-year-old Neil Erickson. According to court documents, the storage business’ surveillance video shows a blue semi pulling an Amazon trailer pulling into the driveway on June 3 at 12:28 a.m.
About six hours later, court documents say Erickson signed the lease for a second storage unit.
That same morning one of the businesses’ owners told investigators he saw Erickson inside the new unit with three to four other people.