Crime & Safety
Charges Filed in Laptop Theft at Central Park in Woodbury
The victim gave chase and police later caught up with the alleged culprits. The computer was returned.
The victim was muddy, but it's the suspects whose records are now dirty.
Three men face felony charges stemming from an April 9 incident at Woodbury’s Central Park in which one of the men allegedly swiped a man’s laptop while he was working at a desk.
The victim chased the perpetrator following the theft and was muddy and distraught when he gave the account of the incident to police, according to the criminal complaint.
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Terrance Daronze Hardie was charged with felony theft, while Ernest Xavier Breland and Travon Thomas Ferrara were charged with felony aiding and abetting theft.
The victim at about 12:45 p.m. on April 9 told police that he was working at a desk near the east entrance of Central Park when three men approached. One of the men, later identified as Hardie, a 19-year-old from St. Paul, took this laptop and walked out, according to the criminal complaint.
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The victim chased Hardie from Central Park to area near Interlachen Parkway and Rainier Drive, the complaint says.
Related: Woodbury Police Nab Suspects in Laptop Theft at Central Park
Witnesses gave police a description of the suspects and the vehicle in which the other two—later identified as Breland, a 21-year-old from Shoreview, and Ferrarra, a 20-year-old from Woodbury—left.
Surveillance video from Central Park corroborated the victim’s account, the complaint says.
At about 2:14 p.m. that day, a Woodbury officer saw the suspect vehicle, a black Chevy SUV, speeding near Radio Drive and Lake Road, police told Patch on April 10.
The three men in the SUV matched the description given in the theft at Central Park, according to the complaint, and the $1,400 laptop was found in the vehicle.
The computer was later returned to the victim.
During an interview with officers, Hardie admitted he stole the computer, and said he did so because he couldn’t find a job and was tired of not having any money, according to the complaint.
If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of five years in prison and $10,000 fines.
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