Man accused of vehicle rummaging inside police forensic garage: Charges
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Police say they arrested a man after he was seen on surveillance footage stealing from vehicles inside the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Forensic garage. Court documents say he also crashed into a police vehicle while leading officers on a chase.
Dakoda Scott Peplinkski, 21, of Minneapolis, faces charges of fleeing police in a motor vehicle, receiving stolen property and theft. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted, and his next court date is set for April 25.
The criminal complaint states that on March 15, a Minneapolis police sergeant was working a homicide investigation when he went to the garage to search a vehicle. He then saw items scattered inside the vehicle that were not scattered before.
He then saw surveillance footage from March 10 that showed a man, believed to be Peplinkski, inside the forensics parking lot for about two hours.
The criminal complaint states that Peplinkski was seen going through 21 vehicles before throwing items from those vehicles over a chain link fence. The footage then shows him climbing the fence in order to retrieve the items and leaves.
Court documents note that Peplinkski was trespassed from the lot on Feb. 2, 2024.
Additional footage from March 12, 2024, shows Peplinkski in the lot again, and according to the complaint, he spent another two hours there and went through three vehicles. The footage also showed him throwing a bag over the fence before retrieving it and leaving.
Peplinkski was caught on March 22, when he was seen inside the impound lot again walking toward a fence. The complaint states that he was carrying a box for a computer system worth just under $1,000 and a French horn worth about $1,000. He then ran through a hole in the fence before getting into a vehicle.
Court documents say that Minneapolis police then arrived and pursued Peplinkski, who then continued to flee and struck a Minneapolis vehicle. Peplinkski then fled the crash scene and continued to evade police until an unmarked squad forced him to stop by pulling in front of the vehicle.
Police then searched the vehicle Peplinkski was driving and found a revolver, ammunition, a designer’s bag with fentanyl in it, prescription drugs and a jumper box.
A spokesperson for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office released a statement that read, in part, "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. 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."