There are many things that most people understand are to not be flushed down toilets. In the case of one man, he purposely went into the restrooms of Egan businesses and flushed pounds of nails down their toilets, causing thousands of dollars in damages.
According to the criminal complaint, police were dispatched to an Eagan Subway restaurant on a report that a man dumped two pounds of nails into a toilet and flushed them down. This was third time this happened at their store.
The manager told police that the first time it occurred was on August 6 and then again on August 8. After the August 6 incident, a plumber came to fix the toilet and it cost $1,000 to repair the plumbing after removing the nails. It was realized that in both incidents, two pounds of nails were flushed.
On August 18, the cameras at Subway caught images of the suspect, so the manager was able to provide the police with photos.
On August 30, police were once again dispatched to the restaurant as the suspect returned to the store. When police arrived and talked to the suspect, he denied that he was involved with the crime.
On September 3, Eagan police was called to the Transit Station, which is just down the street from the Subway restaurant. The report said that a man flushed nearly three pounds of nails down one of their toilets, causing a clog in the sewer system. The manager told police that the damages cost around $800. The description of the suspect matched that of the man they questioned at Subway. The Twin Cities plumbers that repaired the damage at the Transit Station also found mail in the clog that was addressed to the suspect.
On September 26, a similar incident occurred at an Eagan Starbucks. The plumbing was backed up for several days in this case. The sewer system backed up into the floors and this caused the store to close for period of time. Just like in the other cases, nails were discovered inside the plumbing. Employees identified the same man as a regular and said that he would spend long periods of time in the restroom.
Police were called again when the man returned to the Starbucks after they reopened. Officers then located the man at a nearby business where the restaurant manager told police that the man was in the bathroom. Officers then knocked on the bathroom door and heard metal objects falling. They heard the toilet flush.
When the suspect emerged, officers noticed that he had bags. Inside one of the bags were three-inch nails, a large amount of silver, and a Home Depot receipt. The nails that were found in the bag matched those that were removed from Starbucks’ plumbing. Officers also noticed that the Starbucks restroom was still closed. The damage was so serious that the plumber could only correct it by cutting through the wall.
The suspect has now been charged with first-degree damage to property. He could serve up to five years in prison, if convicted.
