A former Lakeville middle school principal-facing charges including burglary, theft, stalking and unauthorized access of a computer-landed in the Crow Wing County Jail Wednesday, June 6.
Christopher Endicott, 50, was arrested by Brainerd police after law enforcement received a tip he was working at Bang Printing, 3323 Oak St., Brainerd. Endicott was arrested on an outstanding warrant from North Dakota for burglary and theft of property, Brainerd police reported, and was taken into custody without incident.
Endicott is at the center of a series of mounting criminal charges, beginning in January when he was placed on paid administrative leave from Century Middle School while under investigation for computer hacking. He is suspected of hacking a cellphone and an iPad belonging to the assistant principal of Scott Highlands Middle School in Apple Valley.
Endicott was charged with gross misdemeanor stalking on Feb. 8 after he allegedly drove near an Apple Valley police detective's home twice and to the police station three times in one day.
During a Feb. 6 search of Endicott's Apple Valley home, detectives also found paperwork showing he pleaded guilty to a shoplifting charge in North Dakota in September 2016.
ADVERTISEMENT
On Feb. 22, Endicott, who was out of jail on bond, was arrested east of Fergus Falls on a "pickup and hold" after Apple Valley police learned he sent suicidal messages to family members and bought a scoped rifle. Endicott, who was found in a portable fish house, was taken into custody without incident. The rifle was in the fish house.
He was booked into Dakota County jail the next day on suspicion of burglarizing his neighbor's house after valuables were found in February by a school resource officer in a filing cabinet in Endicott's former office. Prosecutors say in 2015 he broke into his next-door neighbors' home in Apple Valley while they were out of town, pried open a safe and stole two rings.
He posted bond in the 2015 burglary case that came with several court-ordered conditions, including undergoing a psychological evaluation to determine if he was a threat to himself or others. Endicott pleaded not guilty to the felony second-degree burglary charge.
Then in March, Endicott knocked on the door of a house that he owns, handed the renters a plastic tote full of sports cards and said he stole them, according to criminal charges filed in Dakota County District Court.
He then apologized-saying that he took the items while the couple was on vacation-turned around and walked away, charges said. Endicott's renter called police March 3 to report the incident. The renter said he also found items in the tote that did not belong to him or his wife.
Dakota County prosecutors again charged the former Century Middle School principal with felony second-degree burglary, along with gross misdemeanor theft.
An employee of a sports memorabilia store put a value of $738 on the stolen sports cards, charges said.
Endicott was on paid administrative leave between Jan. 12 and March 13, when he was suspended without pay. Late last month, the Lakeville Area Board of Education hired a new principal to replace Endicott, who was fired from the post, the Lakeville Sun reported. Endicott became principal of Century Middle School in Lakeville in 2012. He previously was the principal at Shakopee West Junior High School and an assistant principal at Dakota Hills Middle School in Eagan.
ADVERTISEMENT
Other than a 2011 speeding conviction, Endicott has no previous criminal record in Minnesota, court records show.
The St. Paul Pioneer Press contributed to this story.
