Fergus Falls man charged after breaking apartment office window

Fergus Falls police said a late-night disturbance at Garitz Grove Apartments ended with a shattered office window, at least $1,500 in damage and a felony charge against 33-year-old Spencer Harley Harrison. The apartment complex sits at 1161 Friberg Ave. and is listed by Beyond Shelter, Inc. as a supportive-housing development.

Officers were called early Sunday morning, May 31, after staff reported the broken window. While police waited for the property manager to arrive, they saw residents heading toward the smoking area, and one man was described as barefoot and stumbling, suggesting he may have been intoxicated. That man was later identified as Harrison.

When the property manager arrived, security video showed Harrison first punching the window in the building’s entryway, but it did not break. He then threw a sandal at the office window, punched it again and shattered it. The footage also showed him putting his sandals back on and throwing a rock at the steel entrance door farther down the building. Harrison told police he did not know what had happened to the window.

The case was filed as felony criminal damage to property. Under Minnesota law, first-degree criminal damage to property is a felony when the damage exceeds $1,000 in repair and replacement costs, and a conviction can carry up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Minnesota’s second-degree criminal damage to property is also a felony in certain circumstances, including bias-motivated damage.

For Garitz Grove residents and staff, the damage added another repair bill to a shared living space that serves people in Fergus Falls. The report put the estimated cost at at least $1,500, a figure that exceeds the threshold for the felony charge and raises the stakes for a property that depends on secure common areas and a functioning office space.

Harrison made his first Otter Tail County District Court appearance on June 1, one day after the incident. Otter Tail County’s county attorney is the chief prosecutor for adult felony crimes in the county and has said the office seeks restitution for victims’ losses, meaning the repair costs could become part of the criminal case as it moves forward.