SLP Student Charged with Stealing Classmate's iPhone

A student has been charged with stealing another student’s iPhone and threatening to beat up the victim when he asked him to return it.

Nathaniel Jimmy Kpaahkpai, also known as Nataniel Jaimmy Kpaakar, 18, is charged with felony theft from a person, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. He is also charged with theft over $500, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint, signed by St. Louis Park Police Officer Troy Peek, a liaison officer at the high school saw Kpaahkpai and another student leave a restroom on April 25. Shortly afterward, another student approached the officer and told him that one of the two students had grabbed his iPhone as he walked down the hall.

The student followed Kpaahkpai to the restroom and confronted him, asking him to give back the iPhone, according to the complaint. Kpaahkpai refused to return the phone and threatened to beat up the victim, the complaint says.

The officer spoke to Kpaahkpai’s companion, who said he met Kpaahkpai in the restroom, and Kpaahkpai gave him the iPhone. The student provided “additional information” that allowed the officer to recover the phone.

The victim identified the iPhone as his. According to the victim’s parents, the phone was valued at $680.

Surveillance video captured events following the theft and was “consistent” with the victim’s account, according to the complaint.

Kpaahkpai is free on a $10,000 bond. An omnibus hearing in his case is scheduled for May 29 in Hennepin County District Court.