A Minnesota woman, 30-year-old Vanessa Guerra, is facing charges of receiving stolen property and theft for her alleged role in stealing a van and selling it for scrap.
According to court documents, Guerra made an incriminating entry in her personal journal on the same day the vehicle, a 2004 Ford Freestar, was reported stolen. The entry reads, “Totally stole a car today! Something I never thought of doing. Fucking superfreaking out about it.”
The van was later sold for $500 to a salvage business in neighboring Blue Earth County, where Guerra resides in Mankato. Witnesses at the auto salvage business confirmed that Guerra had brought the van in and sold it to them.
During the investigation, a Brown County Sheriff’s Office investigator found Guerra’s journal, which contained her written admission of guilt. When questioned, Guerra denied knowing that the vehicle was stolen, but her denial was contradicted by the evidence against her.
Guerra has a prior criminal history, having previously been convicted of driving with a suspended license and driving without insurance, and pleading guilty to misdemeanor theft in June. She was sentenced to a short stint in the county jail and was placed on unsupervised probation for a year, with a judge also fining her $354 and ordering her to “remain law-abiding.”
