Charges say man repeatedly entered secured Minneapolis police lot, stole evidence from vehicles

A 21-year-old man repeatedly broke into the Minneapolis Police Department’s forensic garage and stole or disturbed evidence from numerous vehicles in connection with criminal cases, including one involving a homicide, according to charges.

Dakoda S. Peplinski of Minneapolis was charged in Hennepin County District Court this week with three felonies: receiving stolen property, theft and fleeing police in connection with the series of break-ins from March 10 until his March 22 arrest during a police pursuit.

Peplinski is jailed on $10,000 bail ahead of an April 25 court appearance. Should he post bond, the court has warned him to stay away from the police garage just west of downtown on Colfax Avenue N.

A message was left Wednesday with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

The criminal complaint says Peplinski entered more than two dozen vehicles in all, with most occurring March 10.

The Star Tribune has inquired with the Police Department, the County Attorney’s Office and the county’s chief public defender for any information about the evidence that was stolen and the impact on cases.

“Since we learned about the break-in, we have been in continual communication with the Minneapolis impound lot and the Minneapolis Police Department about the possibility of impacted criminal cases,” said Nick Kimball, spokesman for County Attorney Mary Moriarty, in a statement. “We have been working together to document the affected vehicles, assess the impact to cases and ensure we make necessary disclosures on any pending cases.”

One Twin Cities defense attorney, unaware that any of his clients are connected to evidence in the lot, said the thefts will have a serious impact on cases.

“As far as potential consequences,” said Ryan Pacyga, “it could lead to some evidence suppression. Issues that could arise would be chain of custody, contamination -- especially for forensic issues like DNA and prints -- or changing the physical character of evidence ... and finally if some of it goes missing forever.”

The police lot is a separate space within the city impound lot.

According to the criminal complaint and police records, a police sergeant visited MPD’s forensic garage March 15 to search a vehicle as part of a homicide investigation. The sergeant saw items “scattered all around the interior of the vehicle that had not previously been scattered,” the charges read.

The sergeant reviewed surveillance video from March 10 that captured Peplinski in the lot for roughly two hours as he rifled through 21 vehicles, according to the charges. He threw items from those vehicles over the chain-link fence, climbed over, gathered up the items and fled.

On March 22, Peplinski left the lot through a hole in the fence, carrying a desktop computer with a keyboard and a French horn, the charges said.

A police squad arrived and pursued Peplinski as he drove off, striking an occupied city vehicle in the process. He was captured in his vehicle, wheels spinning in the snow, about 9 a.m. when an unmarked police vehicle blocked him in the 1500 block of Glenwood Avenue.

A search of Peplinski’s vehicle by police turned up a handgun, ammunition, a designer handbag with fentanyl in a baggie and an addictive prescription drug used to counter panic attacks.

The complaint also noted that Peplinski was given a trespass notice at the garage on Feb. 2, but the charges offered no further details.