Warrant Issued for Man Who Allegedly Stole, Used Credit Cards

Matthew Thomas Rush's whereabouts are currently unknown to probation and his last known residences were found vacant and boarded up.

Police have issued a felony warrant for a 25-year-old Golden Valley man after he allegedly stole credit cards from a car and used them at the Ridgedale Target store in Minnetonka. Matthew Thomas Rush faces one count of felony card fraud from an incident on June 29. Rush's whereabouts are currently unknown to probation and his last known residences were found vacant and boarded up. If convicted, Rush faces up to five years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine.  After a checkbook was found in Minnetonka, the owner told police her credit cards and checkbook had been stolen from a car parked near Lake Harriet. She said her cards had been used for over $700 worth of merchandise at Target and a failed attempt to charge another $240. Police identified …

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Golden Valley Sees Rise in Home Burglaries

Golden Valley police say they are dealing with an increase in the number of residential break-ins.

Golden Valley Police are seeing an increase in the number of residential burglaries and thefts. Police are asking residents to take precautions and report any suspicious activity by calling 911. According to police, two men were arrested because a neighbor called to report a burglary in action. The neighbor watched as a man crawled into a nearby home and spotted another man in a getaway car outside. When police arrived the burglar was inside and was caught with stolen property in hand. The driver was arrested too. Golden Valley Police first noticed this spike in residential crime about a month ago in the northeast section of the city. According to a press release, in one overnight incident, a suspect entered a home through an unlocked …

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Dale Urevig

9:41 am on Monday, June 18, 2012

:-) I might have to do that soon...   more ›

Golden Valley Man Arrested in Theft of TV, Firearms

Reed Wayne Erickson told police that he stole the items so he could sell them and pay off a drug debt, according to the criminal complaint against him.

A Golden Valley man has been charged with stealing a flat-screen television and several weapons from a neighbor’s home while they were out of town for the holidays. Reed Wayne Erickson, 18, faces two felony charges in the Dec. 28 incident: theft of a firearm, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine, and second-degree burglary, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine. According to the criminal complaint, Golden Valley police were called to a home in the 6800 block of Country Club Drive on Dec. 28 after a relative of the homeowner reported the thefts. Golden Valley Police Officer Ryan Matthew’s report says the relative had come to the house to care for the homeowners’ cats while …

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Arrest Made in Recent Wave of Thefts from Vehicles

Golden Valley Police say they've arrested a teenager.

Editor's Note: The following information was provided by Joanne Paul, crime analyst for the city of Golden Valley. On 12/12/2011, Golden Valley patrol officers responded to a call after a witness observed three males looking into vehicles in an apartment complex parking lot. Officers quickly located and arrested the suspects and at this time one of the suspects admitted to officers that he and the other suspects had been involved in previous theft from autos. Detectives obtained a search warrant for the home of one of the suspects and in the course of executing that warrant recovered property that had been stolen from vehicles listed in the crime alert that was issued on 12/12/2011. On the morning of 12/21/2011, Golden Valley officers …

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Crime Alert: GVPD Investigates Several Reports of Theft

Police are concerned with thefts from vehicles in the north central part of Golden Valley, known as zone 2, over the weekend.

Editor's Note: The following content is from a crime alert issued by Golden Valley Police late Monday afternoon. The alert is for the north central part of the city, or zone 2. Over the weekend, Golden Valley Police took several reports of theft from vehicles in the: 6300-6400 block of Winsdale St.; 6300 - 6400 block of Phoenix St.;  6800 blk. of Plymouth Ave.;  1300 blk. of Florida Ave. N. These incidents all occurred overnight (Saturday – Sunday) from cars that are parked in driveways and all of the vehicles had been unlocked.  Unknown thieves stole misc items including: briefcases, GPS units, spare change, and garage door openers.  In one incident, the thieves used one of the garage door openers to gain access into an attached garage …

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Golden Valley Felon Sentenced for Possessing Two Semi-Automatic Handguns

The Justice Department credits Project Safe Neighborhood for the initial arrest.

A 40-year-old felon from Golden Valley was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in March to possessing a semi-automatic pistol. Lashawn Kenyatta Nicks pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm.  On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz sentenced Lashawn Kenyatta Nicks to 84 months in federal prison on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Nicks was indicted on November 2, 2010, and pleaded guilty on March 7, 2011. In his plea agreement, Nicks admitted that on October 1, 2009, he possessed two pistols: the .10-caliber semi-automatic referenced above as well as a nine-millimeter. Being a convicted felon, Nicks was prohibited from possessing firearms at any…

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Pickpocketing, Purse-Snatching & Stolen Gifts?

Golden Valley Police say these are all too common this time of year, and they offer some tips to prevent them.

Every year around this time, you'll hear a lot of the same advice from police—be careful when doing your Christmas shopping so someone doesn't steal your valuable gifts. But just because you put the bag of new toys or electronics in the trunk and not on the front seat doesn't mean you can walk away—not according to Golden Valley Police Chief Stacy Carlson. "Thieves are just waiting for that one second of opportunity," she said. "But there are some very good ways to take away that opportunity. It's especially important this time of year." Carlson said it's not uncommon for the police department to get a call that someone's gifts have been stolen. In fact, on Thursday, a Golden Valley organization lost dozens of holiday gifts when a thief …

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Police Blotter

Police Blotter: Golden Valley Cops Continue to Shoot Sick Raccoons

Thefts from vehicles still a problem, three home burglaries being investigated.

Golden Valley Police have had to discharge their weapons seven times, and police say each time it was to shoot and kill a sick raccoon, according to incident reports from Oct. 24 through Nov. 13. "This is not uncommon for this time of year," said Joanne Paul, crime analyst with the Golden Valley Police Department. "These are animals we believe are suffering from distemper, and we're doing the most humane thing possible." Nicole Wallace, wildlife veterinarian technician with the Animal Humane Society, said police are doing what they should be. "There's no curing the distemper in wild animals, and they can spread the disease to our dogs and sometimes our cats, so this is the most humane way to do that that we can tell," she said. In the last…

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Mary Costello

11:39 am on Friday, November 18, 2011

Thanks, Lynn. I believe that technically falls under Minneapolis Park Police, but GV police officers do help out. Either way, I'd like to know more about this. We've heard the bog had been a problem in the past, but not Wirth Lake. Could you (or anyone else with concerns) about this shoot me an email? (mary.costello@patch.com). Thanks!   more ›

Golden Valley Man Arrested for Smoking While Riding

Police say Antonio Gorman was riding in a car while smoking crack cocaine.

A Golden Valley man was arrested for smoking crack cocaine while he was riding as a passenger down Golden Valley Road on Nov. 8. According to the criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County Court, at 9:20 p.m., two Minneapolis Park Police officers noticed someone driving a vehicle without using the headlights.  Police stopped the vehicle outside the city limits near James Avenue North and Golden Valley Road. Police say when the door opened, they smelled the odor of burnt crack cocaine coming from the passenger side of the car, where 49-year-old Antonio Manuel Gorman was seated. Police say Gorman was sweating and breathing fast.  They say he also tried to hide something in his pocket. When it was searched, police say they found a baggie …

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Police: 'We've Had a Substantial Drop in Violent Crime'

Patch takes a look at the latest crime statistics for Golden Valley.

Every year Golden Valley police officers respond to about 18,000 to 20,000 calls. Crime analyst Joanne Paul crunches the numbers and sends that data to the FBI. "It's important for us to see overall trends, because it's not always easy to identify bigger problems when you only look at crime on a day-to-day basis," she said. The numbers for the first nine months of the year have been released, and police say there's been a substantial decrease in violent crime when compared to the first nine months of 2009 and 2010. The FBI classifies the following as violent, or "Part I," crimes: aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder, robbery, arson, burglary, theft and motor vehicle theft. Violent crime during the first nine months of 2011 is down by …

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