Southwest Minneapolis Man Charged in String of Residential Burglaries

A Minneapolis man arrested last month after authorities caught him burglarizing a home in Eden Prairie has been charged in 10 more cases of residential burglaries in the Twin Cities, including homes in Eden Prairie, Tonka Bay, Greenwood, Deephaven and Minneapolis.

Stewart Eugene Pesheck, 43, after police staked out an Eden Prairie home and watched him break in and drive away with stolen items, according to court documents. 

Authorities from various police departments in the Twin Cities metropolitan area have tied Pesheck – also known as Stuart Eugene Peshek – to a string of additional burglaries stretching from late 2010 until the beginning of February 2012.

In 10 separate new cases, Pesheck faces 10 additional felony charges of second-degree burglary, each of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. In a case accusing him of burglarizing a home in the 5100 block of Luverne Avenue in Minneapolis on Feb. 3, Pesheck is also charged with receiving stolen property, which has a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

He remains in the Hennepin County Jail on a $150,000 bond. His next court appearance is scheduled April 4 in Hennepin County District Court.

According to the latest complaints, Pesheck’s method is to knock on a home’s door to determine whether the residents were home. If there was no answer, he would cut cable and telephone lines to homes and then pry open a rear door using a yellow pry bar, which left behind “distinctive” traces of yellow paint. Once inside the targeted homes, Pesheck “rummaged through the various rooms,” found a pillowcase, filled it with jewelry and other valuables and fled.

Pesheck’s address is listed in the 100 block of West Diamond Lake Road in Minneapolis, but he frequently stays at his girlfriend’s home in the 500 block of East 66th Street in Richfield, where authorities investigating the burglaries found a “plethora” of stolen items.

Eden Prairie Police Detective Kyle Duchschere helped link Pesheck to the burglaries by recovering a stolen digital camera from a local pawn shop, according to the complaint. The camera contained “risqué” digital photos of Pesheck and his girlfriend, with a time stamp of Nov. 22 – the same day as one of the Eden Prairie burglaries.

Five of the latest cases charge Pesheck with burglarizing Eden Prairie homes: one on Oct 22, 2011; one on Nov. 22, 2011; two on Dec. 21, 2011; and one on Dec. 28, 2011.

He is also charged with burglarizing a home in the 100 block of Gideons Point Road in Tonka Bay on Sept. 22, 2010. The homeowner told police that someone between 9 and 11:50 a.m., someone cut the cable and telephone lines, pried open a rear door and removed an alarm panel from the wall before taking a pillowcase and filling it with jewelry from the master bedroom, including a Movado watch, diamond earrings, pearl earrings, a gold bracelet and a sterling silver Tiffany bracelet.

A neighbor told police that he saw a “suspicious” maroon SUV parked in the victim’s driveway about 9:30 a.m. that day. When the neighbor confronted a man outside the SUV, the man claimed he was part of a “cutter company” looking for a job site, according to the complaint.

Another case charges Pesheck with burglarizing a home in the 19800 block of Andover Place in Deephaven on Jan. 18. The homeowner told police that someone pried open a rear door to the home between 10:20 a.m. and 2 p.m. after first cutting the cable and phone lines, then stole a 1.86-carat diamond wedding ring, watches, miscellaneous rings, gold chains, bracelets, earrings, a laptop computer and a digital photo docking station.

The value of the stolen items in that burglary was more than $74,000, the victim told police.

Pesheck is charged with burglarizing two homes in Greenwood, in the 4800 block of Lodge Lane and the 5100 block of Curve Street, on Jan. 27. In the first instance, the burglar stole an Invicta Reserve watch, sunglasses, a silver vase, two silver candelabras, a silver chalice with Hebrew writing, multiple snowmobile helmets, bicycle helmets, a PlayStation console, an acoustic guitar and candles.

In the Lodge Lane burglary, the homeowners reported the stolen items as jewelry, a wooden box containing sterling silver tableware, three laptop computers, three ceramic banks, crystal goblets and miscellaneous coins.