Two men arrested after incident at VFW

Two Hutchinson men were taken to the McLeod County Jail after authorities arrested them early Friday morning while responding to an alarm at VFW Post 906.

Kyle Jeffrey Zelm, 21, and Nicholas Brian Ortloff, 20, were arrested shortly after 1:15 a.m. after a McLeod County sheriff’s deputy stopped a car leaving the VFW on Adams Street. Moments earlier, a Hutchinson police officer had arrived on the scene and found a door unlocked on the building’s west side.

Police said four bottles of alcohol, believed to be missing from the VFW, were found in the vehicle. The alcohol was valued at $100.

Police said Ortloff was driving the car. Zelm was sought on a Stearns County warrant for failing to appear in court on an original charge of minor consumption.

Hutchinson police will seek charges from the McLeod County Attorney’s office against both men for third-degree burglary, a felony. Ortloff was cited for driving while intoxicated. A third man in the car was not arrested.

(Doug Hanneman is editor of the Hutchinson Leader. He may be reached at hanneman@hutchinsonleader.com)