Probation for man who repeatedly broke into Minneapolis police lot, stole evidence from vehicles

A 22-year-old man has been put on probation for repeatedly breaking into the Minneapolis Police Department’s forensic garage and stealing or disturbing evidence from several vehicles held in connection with criminal cases, including one involving a homicide.

Dakoda S. Peplinski, of Minneapolis, was sentenced Thursday in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to fleeing police in connection with the series of break-ins from March 10 until his March 22 arrest during a police pursuit.

During his three years on probation, Peplinski must, among other requirements, abstain from the use of alcohol and illicit drugs, not possess firearms, undergo a mental health examination and maintain employment. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors dismissed charges of receiving stolen property and theft.

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

The County Attorney’s Office said soon after Peplinski was charged that it was communicating with the Minneapolis impound lot and the Minneapolis Police Department about the possibility of criminal cases being affected.

On Friday, County Attorney’s Office spokesman Nicholas Kimball said, “We are not aware of any impact to prosecutions.”

A police spokesman declined to comment about the intrusions into the police lot, which is a separate space within the city impound lot.

A police sergeant visited the department’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. He threw items from those vehicles over the chainlink fence, climbed over, gathered up the items and fled with them.

Surveillance video from March 12 shows Peplinski in the lot for about two hours, entering three vehicles. Again, he threw items over the fence, climbed over it and left with the items.

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

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 about 9 a.m. when an unmarked police vehicle blocked him in the 1500 block of Glenwood Avenue.