Crime & Safety

Lakeville Police Arrest 'Love Burglar' on New Charges

Police say Daniel James Trucker, already facing trial for breaking into a Lakeville woman's house out of love, was caught drinking and driving and fled police when they tried to arrest him.

A Burnsville man who told police earlier this year that he broke into a Lakeville woman’s home because he loved her has now been charged with fleeing police, driving a car that his wife rented for him so he wouldn’t have to use the ignition interlock system on his own car.  

Daniel James Trucker, 45, is charged with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle, a felony with a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He is also charged with driving with a canceled license, a gross misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $3,000 fine. 

According to the criminal complaint, a Lakeville police officer on patrol on Oct. 21 spotted a car eastbound, driving down the middle of the center turn lane. The car then drifted back to the right and straddled the dividing line that separated the center turn lane from the eastbound lane. 

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The officer turned on his emergency lights, and the driver of the car pulled over. The officer got out of his squad car and approached the car, but the driver hit the gas and sped away, according to the complaint.

The officer pursued the car, which turned into a townhome complex and into a dead-end road. The driver, later identified as Trucker, jumped out of the car and fled on foot; the officer yelled for him to stop and identified himself as a police officer several times, but Trucker continued to run about 100 yards before he fell, the complaint says.

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The officer detected the odor of alcohol on Trucker, who admitted to drinking earlier in the evening and repeatedly said, “I’m so sorry,” according to the complaint.

A records check showed that Trucker’s driver’s license had been canceled, and that he had an ignition interlock driving restriction and an alcohol abstinence driving restriction. A preliminary breath test showed that Trucker’s blood-alcohol content was .04 percent.

The car that Trucker was driving was a rental car and not equipped with an ignition interlock device. Trucker admitted to the officer that his wife rented the vehicle for him, according to the complaint.

Trucker is scheduled to go on trial on felony charges of first-degree burglary and theft and two misdemeanor domestic assault charges on Dec. 10.

Trucker remains in the Dakota County Jail on a $50,000 bond. An omnibus hearing on his latest charges is scheduled Nov. 14 in Dakota County District Court in Hastings.


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