A 42-year-old Eden Prairie woman, Sarah Michelle Dunker, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with illegal possession of a firearm stemming from a June 6 incident in Eden Prairie.
According to the charging document:
Eden Prairie police were dispatched to the Home Depot store on Valley View Road after receiving a theft report.
Officers spoke with the store’s loss-prevention employee, who said a woman had come into the store, placed merchandise into her purse, and left the store without paying. When he stopped her outside the store, the woman opened her purse and gave him back some merchandise before getting into a car.
The store employee believed she still had additional stolen items on her because he located an empty merchandise package in the store. Officers spotted the car on Valley View Road near Zenith Road in Eden Prairie and stopped it. The woman, identified as Dunker, was in the front passenger seat.
Dunker was arrested after a search of the vehicle for more merchandise turned up a firearm without a serial number in the car’s glove box.
She told police the gun was hers, explaining that she and her son build firearms, and admitted she does not have a permit to carry the firearm.
Dunker was taken to the Hennepin County Jail, where she was released later that day.
The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of five years and/or a $10,000 fine.
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