Police Arrest Man for Prowling SLP Cars

A Minneapolis man has been charged with burglarizing a car in St. Louis Park and stealing coins out of a Tupperware container in the vehicle’s center console.

Gardner Wayne Campbell, 42, is charged with second-degree burglary, a felony with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by St. Louis Park Police Officer Aaron Balvin, a resident in the 3300 block of Virginia Avenue South called police just before 3 a.m. on Aug. 6 and reported that the dome light in a neighbor’s car was on, with an unfamiliar person sitting in the vehicle.

The caller told police that the suspect had gotten out of the neighbor’s car and was walking toward the street, and that he was following him. The suspect walked into a neighbor’s garage and got into a Land Rover parked there, the caller said.

Police found Campbell hiding in the garage. He initially resisted coming out, but eventually emerged at gunpoint.

The homeowner came outside and told police that Campbell didn’t have permission to be in the garage. She also pointed out to police that the door on another car in the garage was ajar.

Police also contacted the owner of the car in which the neighbor had seen Campbell sitting. She reported some change missing from a Tupperware container that she kept in the vehicle’s center console; police found change on Campbell when he was arrested.

Gardner remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $40,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for Sept. 7 in Hennepin County District Court.