A Minot man and woman have pleaded guilty in North Central District Court to conspiracy to commit burglary, a Class C felony.

Cindy Rae McCauley, 50, and Jared James McCauley, 49, Minot, had been arrested in January in relation to a burglary at a local storage unit business in north Minot on Dec. 27, 2022. According to an affidavit of probable cause filed with the court, investigators identified the McCauleys and a third individual named Michael Grosz in surveillance video footage breaking into three storage units by cutting the locks off with a cordless grinder. The renters of the units reported various boxes and items as missing, including a box of the binary explosive called tannerite.

Their co-defendant Grosz had pleaded guilty and was sentenced in this case back in February. The McCauleys made their plea before Judge Gary Lee, who sentenced both to 360 days in the Ward County Jail. Lee ruled they would be required to serve one day first, with credit for one day already served.

The Class C felony will be deemed a misdemeanor upon completion of 18 months of supervised probation. The McCauleys were also ordered to have no contact with the storage business and maintain a 100-foot distance provision. Lee ruled that restitution would be reserved pending filings by the victims, and the McCauleys each must pay $525 in court fines and fees. An indigent recoupment fee of $575 was waived for each of them respectively.