A St. Paul man charged with breaking into apartment buildings to steal coins from laundry machines pleaded guilty Monday to two second-degree burglary charges.
Rickie Orlando Thomas, 34, was caught in August after he failed to disable a security camera in the laundry room of a Snelling Avenue apartment building, according to the criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County District Court.
Video footage showed him damaging several laundry machines in his attempt to get the money out. He initially told police that he couldn’t have committed burglary because his attempt to steal the coins was unsuccessful, charges said.
He was also charged with second-degree burglary in connection with a break-in at an apartment building on White Bear Avenue. It didn’t appear that Thomas had tried to enter the laundry room, as it was labeled with a sign saying that an alarm would sound if the door opened, according to the complaint.
His sentencings in both cases are scheduled for Nov. 30.