Caught on tape: police and prosecutors say hidden camera video captured a burglary in progress inside a Coon Rapids apartment.

The unit’s residents set the camera up to try to figure out who was sneaking into a bedroom and stealing their prescription medicines.

When they later watched the tape back, they were floored by what they saw — the suspect, they say, was their apartment manager.

The building in question is located at 2400 109th Avenue West; it has about 60 apartments and a couple hundred residents.

The woman accused, Robin Marie Johnson, has the master keys to every unit.On Tuesday, she made her first court appearance, charged with theft and burglary.

According to Chelsea Schneider, the resident who set up the camera in her bedroom closet, “I figured kind of the best spot would be to tuck it on this shelf, surrounded by clothes,” she explained. Schneider says the motion-activated device was a last ditch effort to try and figure out how her prescription medications kept disappearing. She moved into the apartment this past January and she says her pills started vanishing almost immediately afterwards. “By the third time I noticed some were gone I was like ‘ok this is ridiculous–our doors are locked during the day’!”

At first, she suspected–and confronted her new roommate Nick Buelow. The two have been friends for a long time but Schneider said she had no choice but to accuse him.

“I totally understood how she might think that,” Buelow admitted. “but I told her no way!”

A week after she installed the camera, Schneider played it back to see a middle-aged woman rummaging through her belongings in her room. “I was just sick,” she said.

“Sick and disturbed,” Buelow added.

The roommates say there’s no denying that it’s Johnson on the tape. The 53-year-old has been manager of their building for more than a decade. Describing the video, Schneider said of Johnson, “She peaks out the window, makes sureI’m not coming home, opens up a drawer–you can see she is wearing rubber gloves.”

Schneider continues, “She grabs a prescription bottle, opens it up, dumps it in her hands. I was freaking out watching it.”

Schneider turned the video over to police and, following an interview with Johnson, they charged her with burglary and theft. Schneider and Buelow say she then left a note by their door, essentially pleading with them formercy.They turned that over to the police too.

Residents interviewed by 5 Eyewitness News at the building expressed shock and disbelief about the charges. Police say there have been no other theft-related complaints connected to Johnson.

The owner of the building said he won’t remove Johnson from her duties because under the law she is innocent until proven guilty.

Tuesday in court, Johnson agreed to give up all of her master keys to the apartments here. She faced a $10,000 bail if she refused.

Johnson has yet to make a plea but she has previously denied the charges.She declined to comment outside court. Her next court appearance is scheduled for June 12.

Mark Saxenmeyer can be reached at msaxenmeyer@kstp.com

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