Woodbury Woman Charged With Burglary, Other Felonies

After police arrested a woman who was apparently trying to enter homes in Woodbury’s Homestead Hills neighborhood on Jan. 23, investigators believed she was connected to other residential burglaries.

Now, Christine Celeste Burtman, 46, has been charged with burglary stemming from a Jan. 4 incident in Marine on St. Croix, along with two counts of attempted burglary connected to her recent arrest in Woodbury.

Burtman, aka Sharon Kay Burtman, was arrested Jan. 23 after a resident called police when she tried to enter the front and back doors of a home at the 8000 block of Greenbriar Lane, according to the complaint.

Burtman then tried to gain access to neighbors’ homes, the caller told police.

       Related: Hear from the woman who called 911.

When questioned by police, Burtman told them she was passing out flyers in the area and walked up to one home with a “for sale” sign in its yard, the complaint says. Officers could not locate any fliers in her possession or in her car, and did not see any homes in the area that had such signage.

Later that day, police spoke with area homeowners who reported that they had scrape marks on their doors.

If convicted on the first- and second-degree attempted burglary charges, Burtman faces a combined sentence of up to 15 years in prison and $22,500 in fines.

On Jan. 4, a Washington County deputy was dispatched to a home at the 700 block of Broadway Street in Marine on St. Croix on a report of an interrupted burglary.

The deputy spoke with the homeowner, who said he returned home from a jog to find his door ajar, according to the complaint.

The resident called out “hello” and encountered a female stranger who said she was lost but couldn’t articulate why she was in the home, the complaint says. He asked her for identification and recalled the name on her driver’s license as “Christina Buntman” with a Woodbury address.

He later learned that $215 in cash was missing from an upstairs bedroom, the complaint says.

She left the Marine on St. Croix home in a green vehicle with a bumper sticker that had a joke about blondes, according to the complaint.

When Burtman was arrested in Woodbury on Jan. 23, she had driven her green Ford Taurus into the neighborhood. It had a bumper sticker that said, “Not all dumbs are blonde,” according to the complaint.

She told police she was at the home to ask for directions.

If convicted on the burglary charge, Burtman faces up to 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine.

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