Crime & Safety

Police: Copper Wire Thief Caught After Car Accident

James Matthew Pajak is also charged drug possession and possession of shoplifting tools, both felonies.

A Coon Rapids man has been charged in Dakota County with possession of drugs and equipment designed for shoplifting after authorities say he stole spools of copper wire from an Inver Grove Heights business last weekend.

James Matthew Pajak, 27, faces two charges of fifth-degree drug possession and possession of shoplifting gear. Both charges are felonies; the drug charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, and the maximum penalty on the shoplifting gear charge is three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaint against Pajak, filed in Dakota County District Court in Hastings, Inver Grove Heights police responded to a report of shoplifting in progress just before noon on Saturday. The caller told police that the suspect had just left the store $600 worth of copper wire and gotten into a vehicle that headed west on Mendota Road toward Southview Boulevard.

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On their way to the store, officers happened upon a car accident at the intersection of Robert Street and Mendota Road. According to the complaint, one of the cars was the vehicle involved in the theft.

The store’s loss prevention officer arrived and identified Pajak, a passenger in one of the vehicles, as the suspect, the complaint says.

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An officer saw spools of copper wire, still in their packaging, in the car’s back seat, according to the complaint. When officers searched the trunk, they found “numerous” hypodermic needles, a glass pipe containing burnt residue and more needles inside a backpack, the complaint says.

In the car’s passenger door, near where Pajak had been sitting, officers found a wire cutter, more needles and a small glass jar containing a dirty piece of cotton, commonly used to filter drugs into a needle, according to the complaint.

In subsequent searches, police found a cigarette box containing glass pipes with trace amounts of drugs in them, and a needle in Pajak’s front pocket, the complaint says.

Pajak gave officers a false name, but the car’s driver identified him as James Pajak, the complaint says.

Pajak was taken to the police station, where he admitted smoking crack cocaine the previous day and stealing from the Inver Grove Heights store, the complaint says. He told officers he had given them a false name because he knew there were warrants out for his arrest, and he admitted being addicted to heroin and crack cocaine.

Pajak is being sought by Anoka County authorities on a charge of stealing or damaging energy or telecommunications wires and cables.

He remains in the Dakota County Jail in Hastings on a $20,000 bond.


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