Oakdale Police Blotter: Man Offers to Help, Ends Up in Jail

An Oakdale man’s offer to help police got him in trouble Sunday, Nov. 13.

While an officer was stopped in the 7100 block of 10th Street assisting a motorist, a man pulled up behind his squad car, identified himself as a Target loss prevention employee and asked if the officer needed help, according to an Oakdale Police Department report.

The man, a 29-year-old from Oakdale, looked intoxicated and smelled of alcohol, according to the report.

He performed poorly on field sobriety tests and failed a preliminary breath test.

The man had two prior DWI convictions within the past 10 years and his driver’s license was revoked at the time of the stop, according to the report. He was arrested on pending charges of second-degree DWI and driving after revocation, the report says.

The following incidents were also reported to Oakdale police Nov. 10-13:

Nov. 10:

• An Oakdale man received an email from someone claiming to have been hired to kill him, and stating that for $5,000 he would not kill him, and would reveal who hired him.
• A $1,600 DVD player, $150 GPS device and $60 perfume were stolen from a locked vehicle in a driveway in the 6700 block of 13th Street Court.

Nov. 11:

• A window was smashed out of an SUV parked in the 4100 block of Gershwin Avenue, causing $200 damage.
• A resident in the 4900 block of Hamlet Avenue reported that her ex-boyfriend gained access to her secured building, and then entered her unlocked apartment and stole two iPods worth $230 total and a cell phone worth $50.
• A representative of Griffith Landscaping reported that a man who had stopped there on Nov. 10 interested in purchasing an old fire truck had returned. He was seen using a front-end loader to move plow equipment, causing more than $5,000 damage, and he was also seen under a fire truck hot wiring it to make the lights and sirens come on. The man admitted to both. A formal complaint was pending at the time of the report.
• A car hit a deer at 50th Street and Helena Avenue at 6:12 p.m. Police shot the deer and issued the driver a deer possession tag.

Nov. 12:

• A resident in the 200 block of Greystone Avenue heard a loud explosion near her home around 8:30 p.m. Nov. 11. Her son returned home around 11:30 p.m. and found an incendiary device detonated under a vehicle in the driveway. Police located a plastic apple juice jug and tin foil balls in the driveway resembling a “MacGyver bomb.” There was no damage to the vehicle.
• An Oakdale woman reported that someone fraudulently used her debit card for a $250 and $25 purchase. It’s unknown how the card number was obtained.
• A 19-year-old Cottage Grove man identified himself as a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration in order to get a gas station employee’s phone number from a fellow employee. Police found out about the incident while investigating the employee’s report of harasssing phone calls.
• A St. Paul woman reported hitting a deer with her car in the 7600 block of 10th Street. The car sustained front-end damage. The Oakdale Fire Department evaluated the driver, who hit her forehead, but she was not taken to the hospital. The deer was gone when police arrived.
• A man stole $53 worth of cigars from at 10th Street and Helmo and then drove off. The license plate of the vehicle he was driving registered to a rental company.
• A resident in the 4100 block of Gershwin Avenue reported that a man was crouched over by her vehicle, and her tires were later found to be punctured, however she did not witness him damage her vehicle. She knows the suspect, and has been trying to cut off communication with him. The man knocked on her apartment door just prior to her seeing him near the vehicle. Police called the man, and he said he was in the apartment building, but that he did not go near the woman’s vehicle. The damage estimate for the tires is $400.

Nov. 13:

• A 29-year-old woman reported to the North St. Paul police department that she had been kicked, punched and choked to the point of unconsciousness twice in the 7100 block of 38th Street. She did not have signs of injury consistent with the assault as reported. Her father picked her up, and an officer planned to follow up with the suspect on the next day.
• A resident in the 2500 block of Grafton Avenue reported that a boxer/pit bull mix was aggressive and chased him into his garage. Police searched the area, but did not locate the dog. Neighbors said they had not seen the dog.

 The above items are taken from the . In all incidents where an arrest occurred, a charge is merely an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. The arrested person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Incidents are listed in the order in which they were reported, not necessarily the order in which they occurred.