Prosecutors charged a 23-year-old St. Paul man Monday in connection to the attempted theft of a sign at a Highland Park home.
The homeowner reported the incident after he saw other residents had reported vandalism of pride flags in the Highland Park and Macalester-Groveland neighborhoods. There were 37 instances of damage, mostly to rainbow flags, and also some cases of other vandalism, including to the new Minnesota state flag, between June 6 and 26, according to police.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged George Thomas Floyd with felony possession of burglary or theft tools, saying he had a knife “with intent to use” it to commit burglary or theft.
Police said Monday the investigation into the pride flag vandalism is ongoing, including into whether Floyd is a suspect. The county attorney’s office received another case from police involving Floyd for charging consideration; he had not been charged with other offenses as of Monday afternoon.
Charge: Used knife to ‘manipulate’ storm door hinges
The homeowner on Pinehurst Avenue near Cleveland Avenue had a Ring doorbell and it showed that, in the middle of the night on June 6, a man went to his home wearing a blue baseball cap, a green bandana over the lower part of his face, a dark T-shirt, distinctive shoes and blue jeans.
He later noted the man who tried to steal his sign, which said, “We will not obey,” wore a knife holster on his waist similar to security footage that showed a man damaging the rainbow flags, said a criminal complaint.
The suspect tried to open a locked storm door at the home and pulled out a large fixed-blade knife and “used it to manipulate the hinges on the storm door,” the complaint said. The homeowner had the sign in the exterior part of his inner door.
The homeowner got on the Ring intercom, asked the man what he was doing, and the man then left his stoop.
Police encountered a man, identified as Floyd, during a traffic stop on Wednesday. “Officers later noted Floyd wore a necklace and black T-shirt like that of the man” on the homeowner’s stoop. He also has “a large mole or freckle just below the elbow crease on his left arm just like the man” on the Ring video, the complaint said.
On Thursday, police carried out a search warrant at Floyd’s Highland Park residence on Pinehurst Avenue near Fairview Avenue, about three blocks from the homeowner’s residence. Officers found the baseball cap, green bandana, distinct shoes, black shirt and fixed-blade knife that prosecutors say he used on June 6.
Police took Floyd into custody and he declined to talk to them.
Floyd is due to make his first court appearance on Tuesday; an attorney wasn’t listed for him in the court file as of Monday afternoon.