On November 1, Ross Kaplan wrote:
"The focus of the Fulton Safety Committee meeting Tues. night was whether to post, on
the Fulton Neighborhood Web site, a photo of an individual suspected in more than 16
local burglaries and miscellaneous stalking incidents. The group consensus was to
wait for the police to give their ok; the police are concerned that putting the photo
online will taint future lineups. In the mean time, the suspect is at large (free on
too-low bail) while the police look for him in connection with other charges."
As chairman of the committee in question, this case presents a dilemma. A suspect
with a long criminal history, including felony convictions in Hennepin County for
stalking offenses, was arrested on September 1 and charged with two felonies,
including 2nd-degree burglary. Bail was initially set at $100,000, but a judge
lowered it to $20,000, despite the objections of the prosecutor. The suspect was
released on bail pending trial and is not under court supervision. The 5th Precinct
continues to investigate other crimes tied to this suspect. The police have reason to
believe that this suspect, who according to Inspector Morris is a registered sex
offender, may have had other motives besides burglary for breaking into homes. As of
Tuesday, a warrant for the suspect's arrest on additional charges was pending. Police
reportedly did not know the suspect's whereabouts.
The dilemma here is that the police investigator has asked us not to distribute the
suspect's photo around the neighborhood or on the internet because this could
compromise or derail the investigation of these other crimes. However, I believe that
the judge has placed the community's safety in jeopardy by allowing this suspect to be
released so easily and I think that circulating the photo and the police report would
give neighbors an opportunity to watch for this suspect in case he returns to stalk
any of the burglary victims.
The committee decided to distribute and post the suspect's photo after the police
investigation was completed. In effect, we decided that cooperating with police was
more important than immediately notifying the community of a potential threat. I
support this decision because our long-term, ongoing partnership with the 5th Precinct
has served the neighborhood well, but I am angry that the court has forced us to make
this choice. If this suspect is convicted and sentenced, I can guarantee that the
court will hear from the community about the impact of this case.
5th Precinct SAFE issued a crime alert in August in regard to the string of burglaries
tied to this suspect. SAFE has been very forthcoming and cooperative in supplying
information and in helping us understand the constraints involved in this situation.
The prosecuting attorney has also been helpful in keeping us posted on the status of
this case. In this as in so many other instances, I believe that the problem lies
with our courts and our system of sentencing guidelines, which often fail to protect
the public from the actions of repeat offenders.
Dave Delvoye
Fulton neighborhood
Ward 13
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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