'Someone Was Watching For a Target:' Lake Harriet Theft Victim

Around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, an Edina resident pulled into a parking spot on the 1300 block of West 42nd Street, near Lake Harriet’s sailboat anchorage, for what she thought would be a pleasant afternoon run. According to a report she filed Wednesday with the Minneapolis Police Department, though, an unseen person was paying careful attention to her every move.

The woman said she discretely slid her purse underneath one of her car’s seats, but when she returned to the car an hour later, the back passenger window had been smashed out, and her valuables were missing. She believed she was victimized because “someone was watching for a target.”

The thief, she told police, immediately began making charges on her cards, even before she was able to cancel them.

In an email, Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board spokesperson Robin Smothers told Patch that surveillance cameras do not monitor the area around the Lake Harriet Bandshell. However, she said, police patrol the area "many hours over the course of each day" and Park Police officers in Southwest Minneapolis "devote a large amount of time patrolling the lakes."  

Still, preventing the crimes are very difficult, she added.

"The amount of time it takes to commit a theft from motor vehicle in less than one minute," she said. "Frequently, the suspects use “look-outs” and communicate via cell phone to warn of police activity. Additionally, suspects almost always leave the city after a break-in so they can commit credit card or check fraud and remain undetected."

Sept. 9

After pulling over a vehicle they described as “suspicious” around 2 p.m. on the 200 block of West 49th Street, officers found prescription narcotics on the driver’s person that were not in his name.

During a suspicious vehicle stop at 4:20 a.m., officers arrested a man and booked him into the Hennepin County Jail on charges of prescription fraud.

The owner of a rental property on the 100 block of Rustic Lodge Avenue East reported his just-departed tenants had made off with the unit’s keys despite his numerous requests to return them. The victim reported the renters were “acting all ignorant” as to the keys’ whereabouts.

A car parked overnight on the 3500 block of 1st Avenue South was broken into overnight. “Several items” were taken.

A garage on the 4800 block of East Lake Harriet Parkway was broken into overnight by a thief, who made off with a bicycle.

Portions of a new rock retaining wall on the 4500 block of Xerxes Avenue South was damaged between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. by an unknown assailant or assailants.

A 16-year old was cited for violating the terms of his learner’s permit by driving recklessly down the 4800 block of Chowen Avenue South around noon. The youth identified himself to officers and confessed to reckless driving while police were investigating the scene of the incident.

Drivers on the 100 block of West 58th Street and the 5400 block of Logan Avenue South were cited for driving without insurance on their cars.

Drivers at the corner of West 31st Street and Blaisdell Avenue and at the corner of West 50th Street and Fremont Avenue South were cited for driving without current drivers licenses.