A 21-year-old man repeatedly broke into the Minneapolis Police Department's forensic garage and stole or disturbed evidence from numerous vehicles in connection with various cases, including one involving a homicide, according to charges.

Dakoda S. Peplinski, of Minneapolis, was charged in Hennepin County District Court this week with three felonies: receiving stolen property, theft and fleeing police in connection with the series of break-ins from March 10 until March 22 until his arrest during a police pursuit.

Peplinski is jailed in lieu of $10,000 bail ahead of an April 25 court appearance. Should he post bond, the court has warned him to stay away from the police garage just west of downtown on N. Colfax Avenue.

A message was left Wednesday with his attorney seeking a response to the allegations.

The criminal complaint says Peplinski entered more than two dozen vehicles in all, with most of those intrusions occurring on March 10.

The Star Tribune has inquired with the Police Department, the County Attorney's Office and the county's chief public defender for any information about the evidence that was stolen and what impact it might have on cases.

"Since we learned about the break-in, we have been in continual communication with the Minneapolis impound lot and the Minneapolis Police Department about the possibility of impacted criminal cases," Nick Kimball, spokesman for County Attorney Mary Moriarty, said in a statement. "We have been working together to document the affected vehicles, assess the impact to cases and ensure we make necessary disclosures on any pending cases."

Minneapolis Police Sgt. Garrett Parten said the department had no comment on the thefts and possible impact on prosecutions.

The police lot is a separate space within the city impound lot.

According to the criminal complaint and police records, a police sergeant visited MPD's forensic garage on March 15 to search a vehicle as part of a homicide investigation. The sergeant saw items that were "scattered all around the interior of the vehicle that had not previously been scattered," the charges read.

The sergeant reviewed surveillance video from March 10 that captured Peplinski in the lot for roughly two hours as he rifled through 21 vehicles, according to the charges. He threw items from those vehicles over the chain-link fence, climbed over, gathered up the items and fled.

Surveillance video from March 12 showed Peplinski in the lot for about two hours and entering three vehicles. Again, he pitched items over the fence, climbed over and left with what he stole.

On March 22, Peplinski walked toward the lot's fence, carrying a desktop computer with a keyboard and a French horn in a box, the charges said. He ran through a hole in the fence and entered a vehicle.

A police squad arrived and pursued Peplinski as he drove off, striking an occupied city vehicle in the process. He was captured in his vehicle, wheels spinning in the snow around 9 a.m. when an unmarked police squad vehicle blocked his progress in the 1500 block of N. Glenwood Avenue.

A search of Peplinski's vehicle by police turned up a handgun, ammunition, a designer handbag with fentanyl in a baggie and an addictive prescription drug used to counter panic attacks.

The complaint also noted that Peplinski was given a trespass notice at the garage on Feb. 2, but the charges offered no further details.