A Republican Minnesota House Candidate Is Being Sued After Allegedly Sawing His Neighbor's Garage In Half

A candidate for Minnesota's House of Representatives is being sued by his neighbor after he allegedly sawed the neighbor's garage in half, according to court documents obtained by the Duluth News Tribune.

Roger Weber, a Republican running for a seat in Minnesota's District 6A, allegedly used a power saw to cut Mark Besemann's garage in half, according to a lawsuit filed by Besemann.

The case stems from a longstanding grudge going back to 2012, when Weber's father died. Robert Weber, Roger's father, owned about 40 acres of land in the region, including the house and the garage. He transferred ownership of 39 of those acres to Roger, but he kept the house, garage, and one acre. After he died, ownership of the house, garage, and acre passed to his daughter, Ann Anderson.

Roger Weber allegedly told his sister that, when his father died, he was going to remove any part or structures that were on his side of the property line. He insists half the garage is on his side of the property line. Anderson sold the house to Besemann, who came back a little more than a week later to find his garage destroyed.

"I live a half-hour away, so I'm not over there every day. About a week after I closed on it, I drove in to see that half the garage was gone," Besemann said, according to the paper. "I had a pretty good hunch who did it, but I waited a few days to call him. Someone who does something like that isn't thinking properly. I didn't want to get him any angrier. I didn't know what else he might do ... It was a pretty rough way to greet your new neighbor."

Besemann is seeking $20,000 in damages for the garage and $20,000 in punitive damages in the case. He is also seeking more of the land owned by Weber to establish a "buffer" area.

Weber couldn't immediately be reached for comment by Business Insider.