A couple have been charged with stealing a purse from a vehicle at Ridgedale Center and then using the victim's credit card to buy almost $1,000 worth of jeans and Coach purses.
Erica Lynn Donovan, 24, of Inver Grove Heights, and Dean Bradley Pehl, 46 of Vadnais Heights, were both charged with two felony counts: financial transaction card fraud and possession of burglary tools.
On Feb. 4, Minnetonka Police were informed that an SUV window had been broken near Cedar Lake Road and Creek Road. An observer told police she saw a suspicious-looking man and woman in a rusty red van near the SUV. When she returned to her vehicle, she saw that a window had been broken. The owner of the SUV came to the scene and reported that her purse, containing several credit cards, had been stolen.
Officers headed to nearby Ridgedale and found that one of the credit cards had been used at Macy's to purchase a pair of jeans and Coach purses in the amount of $985.
Officers say they found Donovan hiding in a mall bathroom and she told them she had ditched the stuff she bought as well as the purse. Officers found Pehl sleeping in the van in the mall parking lot. Both people were arrested.
When the van was searched, officers found a large flathead screwdriver and a medical card belonging to the purse's owner.
