Police Arrest Man for Breaking into St. Louis Park Apartment

A man has been charged with breaking into a St. Louis Park apartment and stealing birth certificates and Social Security cards belonging to his former girlfriend and her children.

Willie Perkins, 44, who has no permanent address, is charged with first-degree burglary, a felony with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine. He is also charged with interference with an emergency call, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

St. Louis Park police were called to an apartment on Louisiana Court just after 1:30 a.m. Dec. 30 to investigate a reported burglary, according to the criminal complaint, signed by St. Louis Park Police Officer Jon Fisher.

Officers met with the victim, who said she woke up to find Perkins, the father of one of her children, standing at the foot of her bed.

The victim said she had broken off her relationship with Perkins and moved to a new apartment because of a history of domestic violence, and that his name is not on the lease and he doesn’t have a key.

She said she told him to leave, but he refused and blocked her efforts to leave through the door and the bedroom window. When she grabbed her cell phone and told Perkins that she was going to call the police, he pried it away from her.

The victim yelled and pounded on the apartment walls to alert her neighbors. After a few minutes, she was able to escape the bedroom and flee the apartment with her youngest child.

Police found an intoxicated Perkins walking in the area and arrested him, according to the complaint. When they searched him, they found birth certificates and Social Security cards for the victim and her children; the victim told police that they had been in a file folder in her apartment.

Perkins claimed that he got into the victim’s apartment building through an unlocked back door, and her apartment door was also unlocked. He said he and the victim had “rekindled their relationship” and he went to her apartment because he was concerned about her.

Perkins remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $60,000 bond. He is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charge Jan. 4 in Hennepin County District Court.