A Minot woman has been sentenced to 60 days with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after pleading guilty to the theft of firearms from a storage unit in December 2023.

Rana Kay Walsh, 55, Minot, entered her change of plea in North Central District Court on Friday, pleading guilty to burglary and theft-take-firearm, both Class C felonies. Three additional counts of theft-take-firearm were dismissed in accordance with a plea agreement.

According to court documents, Minot Police responded to a reported burglary at a storage unit in southeast Minot on Dec. 23, 2023. The victim said he hadn’t visited his storage unit for several days and arrived to find his lock had been replaced on the unit door. A review of the unit’s contents found that six rifles, a handgun, scopes and a lower receiver were missing, all valued at $6,100.

In January 2024, Dwayne McClusky reported to the MPD that Jeffrey Randall Hart, 68, Mandan, and Walsh had arrived at his apartment with multiple firearms, which they admitted were stolen from a storage unit in southeast Minot. McClusky told them to leave his apartment and observed them loading the guns into a vehicle.

Walsh was arrested on Jan. 8, 2024, on unrelated charges, and told an officer that when she was released from jail she wanted to return some of the stolen firearms she had in a storage unit. After a search of Walsh’s mother’s storage unit, four of the stolen firearms were recovered, but the handgun and two custom AR-15 rifles were still missing.

Hart was interviewed the next day while in custody at the Ward County Jail but denied having the missing firearms.

Judge Richard Hagar sentenced Walsh to five years with the DOCR, with all but 60 days suspended and credit for 53 days served. Walsh was ordered to complete three years of supervised probation, have no contact with the victim and maintain a 150 foot distance from their storage unit. Walsh also was assessed $525 in court fines and fees.

The case against Hart is still open, based on court records, and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on July 17. He is charged with one count of burglary and four counts theft-take-firearm, all Class C felonies.