Man caught red-handed breaking into uncle’s house tries to bribe cops with heroin

Sometimes when you are caught doing the wrong thing it’s better to take what is coming to you.

As they say, stop digging!

However, that is not advice heeded by one Minnesota man who, after being apprehended by cops at the scene of a burglary, tried to buy off the boys in blue by offering them some of his heroin stash.

Authorities in St. Paul allege that Daniel Gregory Franco and a friend broke into Franco’s uncle’s house shortly after learning the uncle had inherited a large sum of money.

Franco and his friend, Richard Joseph Wollenberg, cut a porch screen at Franco’s uncle’s home on the 1200 block of Sherburne Avenue about 1:30 a.m. on New Year’s Day, according to the charges, and then used a crowbar to break an interior window.

A neighbor heard the window break and saw flashlights inside the dark home, and called police.

Wollenberg and Franco were arrested while attempting to flee out the front door after officers arrived, according to the charges.

Franco, 31, reportedly dropped a green backpack containing a handgun and ammunition as he ran.

The Stillwater man has three felonies on his record, including one for fifth-degree drug possession from 2016, and is not allowed to have guns.

When Franco’s uncle returned home, he discovered several rifles missing from an upstairs bedroom and a handgun from a dresser drawer; he also couldn’t find two sets of vehicle keys.

Several other areas of his home had been rummaged through, and he told police he suspected he was targeted because he recently had “come into a large sum of money,” according to court documents filed late last week.

Franco, who was injured when a canine apprehended him, told police while en route to the hospital that his uncle asked him to watch his house after recently inheriting a lot of money and that he was there watching TV when police showed up, according to the charges. He said he ran because he got scared, and denied possessing a gun or hearing police canine warnings.

When police told him they had body camera footage of the encounter, Franco offered to get the officers heroin in exchange for not going to jail, according to the charges.

According to a report in the Moose Gazette, Franco’s uncle said neither man had permission to be inside his home, and told police he didn’t understand why his nephew would steal for him as he recently wrote him a check for $3,000 and had planned to give him another $25,000.

Both men were charged with unlawful possession of a firearm and second-degree burglary.

Wollenberg, 34, of St. Paul has four felonies on his record, including convictions for drug possession and burglary. He told officers he and Franco are friends from using heroin together.