Maple Grove Men Charged with Burglarizing Plymouth Garage

Two Maple Grove men have been charged with burglarizing an open garage in Plymouth and stealing iPods and a GPS unit.

Cory James Walz, 20, and Delphis Cheryouit Kuto, 18, are each charged with first-degree burglary, a felony with a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $35,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaints, signed by Plymouth Police Investigator Warren Anderson, Plymouth police were patrolling in the area of Magnolia Lane and 47th Street at about 4 a.m. Aug. 2 because of a number of burglaries and thefts reported in the area.

They found a car parked in a no-parking zone on 47th Avenue and stopped to issue a ticket. When they checked the car’s license plate, they discovered that it was not on file.

Officers approached the unoccupied car and found the keys in the ignition, the windows down and a bag of what appeared to be marijuana on the floor of the car, with a marijuana pipe in the cup holder and an iPod on the seat, according to the complaint. The car’s hood was warm, indicating that it had been recently driven.

Police seized the suspected marijuana and also found a number of iPods in the car, along with a wallet belonging to Walz and a GPS unit. Officers checked the settings on one of the iPods and found the name of its owner, who lives in the 4200 block of Pineview Lane in Plymouth.

Police found the garage door open and the garage light on when they went to the victim’s house. They awakened the residents and asked them to check their cars; the residents reported that two iPods had been stolen from their cars, and their descriptions matched the iPods that police found in the parked car, according to the complaint.

Police returned to the parked car and found Walz nearby. During an interview, he admitted that he and some companions had committed a number of thefts and burglaries over the past few nights, and he identified Kuto, a juvenile male and a juvenile female, the complaint charges.

Officers tracked down Kuto and the juvenile male, both of whom admitted to participating in the burglaries, according to the complaint. Kuto also told authorities that he had participated in some burglaries in Medina, the complaint says.

Walz and Kuto remained in the Hennepin County Jail Monday on separate $60,000 bonds. An omnibus hearing in Kuto’s case is scheduled Aug. 15 and in Walz’s case Sept. 14, 2012 both in Hennepin County District Court.