Richfield Man Charged with Burglarizing Cars, Garages

A Richfield man has been charged with burglarizing cars and garages and pawning stolen items.

John James Judge, 46, whose address is listed in court documents as Richfield, faces a felony count of third-degree burglary, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

According to the complaint, Minneapolis police were called to a home in the 4000 block of 27th Avenue South on July 11 on a report of a garage burglary. The resident told police that someone broke into his garage and stole items, including a women’s mountain bike.

On July 13, police were notified that some items reported stolen in a series of garage burglaries—including the mountain bike—had been pawned. Authorities placed a police hold on all the pawned items which they believed were stolen.

Police contacted the man who pawned the items, and he told them that a man he knew only as "John"—who he said lived in his garage—sometimes paid him $20 to pawn various items, according to the complaint. The man told police that he wasn’t aware the items were stolen.

The man agreed to let police search his home and the garage. They also spoke to the man’s mother, who told them that Judge was upstairs in the house, and let officers in to search for him.

Police didn’t find the suspect in the house, but they spoke to another woman who told them that Judge was in the garage, and that she had “important information” about the burglaries, the complaint says.

The woman told police she knew that Judge breaks into vehicles and garages, and that she heard him bragging about the burglaries.

According to the complaint, Police got into the garage with a key provided by one of the residents, and they found Judge hiding beneath a car.

Judge admitted to authorities that he had committed the South Minneapolis burglary and estimated that he had burglarized at least 10 other garages and vehicles in the neighborhood.

Judge remains in the Hennepin County Jail.