Pumpkin-Aided Vandalism and In-Flight Emergency: Blotter

Theft

• A 32-year-old Dollar Tree employee was reported to have taken five Gatorade bottles worth $5.36 at 9:58 a.m. Oct. 15 from the store where he worked. The bottles were found in his vehicle.
• A JC Penny loss prevention officer detained a 39-year-old Eden Prairie woman suspected of stealing a black dress with feathers worth $60 and athletic shoes worth $40. Police arrested her and ticketed her for shoplifting.
• Officers went to the 6400 block of Flying Cloud Drive following a report of suspicious people. They saw a person with a flashlight looking around a building and a dark-colored SUV. The vehicle turned on its headlights and accelerated toward an officer but stopped. Police asked a 42-year-old Bloomington man about fresh gas leaking from the rear of his vehicle. He admitted using a pump in the back of the SUV to siphon gas from a truck. Officers arrested him on suspicion of possession of burglary tools, theft and tampering with an auto. He’s suspected of stealing 30 gallons of diesel fuel.

Property Damage

• A 46-year-old man told police at 9:50 p.m. Oct. 12 someone tried to kick in the door of his home, located on the 9000 block of Cold Stream Lane. He said he got home from dinner, locked the door and then went upstairs to bed. He later heard a loud bang and his cat “going crazy.” When he went down, he couldn’t see anyone or any vehicle. The door was splintered and broken, with $1,000 worth of damage. Someone in the home is going through a divorce, and an ex is suspected.
• A 47-year-old Eden Prairie man said someone shattered his car window with a pumpkin sometime between 6 p.m. Oct. 16 and 8 a.m. Oct. 17 while the vehicle was parked on the 8000 block of Belvedere Drive.

Burglary

• At 2:45 a.m. Oct. 14, police received a report of two suspicious men trying to open car doors on the 17000 block of Bainbridge Drive. Officers stopped a vehicle whose brake lights matched the description of the suspect vehicle. They arrested an 19-year-old Eden Prairie man on suspicion of underage drinking and driving. A search of the car found an iPad with a sticker that read, “Do not steal.” They also found a white iPhone, black iPhone, Wolverine gloves, a flashlight, a knife, a metal pipe in the shape of a cigarette, a radar detector and a GPS. In addition to the drinking and driving charge, the man was also charged with possession of burglary tools, possession of stolen property and tampering with an automobile. Another 19-year-old man was arrested on charges that were identical except for a underage drinking charge instead of the drinking and driving charge. The men are suspected in eight different incidents between Oct. 13 and Oct. 14. Officers were able to return the property to the victims. The owners of the iPad, a 50-year-old Eden Prairie man and 16-year-old boy, didn’t know anyone had burglarized their attached garage on the 18000 block of Pathfinder Drive. One of the victims had left the garage door open and could’t find the iPad in the truck. But they thought didn’t know whether the iPad was misplaced or stolen.

In-flight emergency

• Police and firefighters went to Flying Cloud Airport at 9:50 a.m. Oct. 13 following a report that a two-engine Beechcraft King Air was showing a fire indicator for one of its engines, which had been shut down. The emergency personnel waited at the airport tower while the plane landed, observing that the propeller on the left engine was not moving. The plan landed and taxied without incident. It had been carrying Delta mechanics and parts from Eden Prairie to Milwaukee and St. Louis then back to Eden Prairie. It was about 60 miles out from Eden Prairie when the fire indicator came on.