Crime & Safety

5 Dumb Things Criminals Shouldn't Do (But Did Anyway in Hopkins)

Here are five things that happened over the past few months that you probably shouldn't do if you want to avoid the attention of police.

urge residents to take precautions in order to avoid becoming victims of crime, and that’s good advice.

Still, few offenders are criminal masterminds—and some do things that are downright dumb.

Here are five things that happened in Hopkins over the past few months that you probably shouldn’t do if you want to avoid the attention of police.

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Find out what's happening in Hopkinswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

On July 25, police got a call that someone had dropped off an athletic bag, cooler and other property at a Ninth Avenue North apartment building. When they inspected the items, they found a laptop, DVD player and TCF Bank card. A witness said he saw the woman who dropped off the items go into a neighboring apartment building. When police talked with her, she said she’d taken property from other apartments but reconsidered and tried to return the items. “I did something bad,” she told officers.

On Oct. 29, a Meadow Creek Condos resident told police someone broke into her car overnight and stole a $150 stereo. The woman found a Marlboro cigarette butt in the car, which investigators sent in for DNA analysis. The results of that analysis triggered an alert when it matched a profile in the state’s DNA database for a man who’d been arrested in August for .

On June 29, a husband and wife reported that a man charged them with a collapsible baton while they were moving their vehicles in the morning. The woman fled to a neighbor’s home, and the man got in his vehicle, planning to hit the attacker if he came forward. Officers rushed to the scene and directed the assailant to the ground at gunpoint. The man admitted running after the victim—but said he was a bounty hunter who had the wrong target. A bail bonds company verified his story, but he faces a felony charge of second-degree assault.

A Blake School janitor called police June 22 after he saw a man pull up in front of The Blake School in a BMW, shoot an arrow in the front door, retrieve the arrow and drive away. Officers found a broken piece of an arrowhead wedged inside the front door and a “wrench-like tool” wedged between the doorframes. The suspect’s name was written in marker on the tool. The suspect is charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school property, a felony, and fourth-degree criminal damage to property, a misdemeanor.

In August, police arrested a woman on suspicion of prostitution at Hopkins Asian Massage following an undercover sting. That arrest led to that gives the city more power to close massage parlors after prostitution is uncovered. Nevertheless, found ongoing prostitution at Hopkins Asian Massage—along with Yinyin Massage. The City Council revoked both businesses’ licenses in June. None of the business owners have been charged criminally.

 

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