2 Men Charged with Burglary After Breaking into Eagan Home

Two Eagan men are charged with third-degree burglary and underage drinking after authorities say they walked into an unlocked Eagan home last weekend, helped themselves to liquor and called up a lewd photo on the family’s computer.

David Jared Albert Finver, 20, and Jacob Allan Peterson, 20, face a maximum penalty on the felony burglary charge of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The underage drinking charge is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.

According to the criminal complaints, Eagan police were summoned to a home just after 3 a.m. June 12 after the homeowner reported a burglary.

The man told police that at least two suspects had left the home a few minutes earlier, and that it appeared they had stolen only alcohol.

He and his wife were awakened about 3 a.m. by the sound of something falling in the kitchen, followed by a male voice, the complaint says. The man got up to investigate and found the family computer, which normally would have been in “sleep” mode, displaying a lewd Internet page.

The man told police that he continued to search the house after making sure his own children were asleep, then noticed that lawn decorations in the back yard had been overturned and tossed into a pond.

The man said he found red plastic cups with liquid in them and a half-empty bottle of wine in his outdoor bar area. Inside, he found a shot glass and a tipped-over plastic cup on top of his liquor cabinet; a bottle of Crown Royal whiskey and Bombay Sapphire gin were missing from the cabinet.

Police stopped Finver and Peterson, who were walking a few houses north of the home, the complaint says. Peterson had bottles of Bombay Sapphire gin and Crown Royal whiskey tucked into his jacket, and Finver was carrying a case of Budweiser, with three cans left in the box, the complaint says.

Finver and Peterson were arrested and were given preliminary breath tests, which showed that both men were intoxicated, according to the complaint.

Peterson refused to give a statement to police, but Finver said he and Peterson had left a graduation party with some beer and were walking to Peterson’s house. Along the way, he said, they were “causing mischief” in people’s yards.

When they got to the victim’s home, they found a refrigerator in the back yard and drank some wine that they found in it, Finver said. He said they tried the home’s side door and found it unlocked, then went inside and took two bottles of liquor from the liquor cabinet.

Finver also admitted that he pulled up a lewd photo from the Internet and left it on the victim’s computer screen, the complaint says.

Omnibus hearings in the two cases are scheduled Aug. 8 for Peterson and Sept. 12 for Finver, both in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.