University police arrested a man carrying 15 allegedly stolen passports at Wilson Library on Jan. 21.

Gideon Osei Boadu, 28, allegedly removed the picture from at least one of the passports and replaced it with his own. He also carried checks with someone else’s name and Immigration and Naturalization Service stamps, according to the criminal complaint.

Boadu was arrested and taken to Hennepin County Jail but was released after a hearing. Citing a visa violation, INS officials later took him into custody, said INS spokesman Tim Counts.

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Boadu on Jan. 23 with aggravated forgery.

Boadu entered the United States in 1998 or 1999 as a tourist, said University police Detective Marianne Scheel. He has never enrolled at the University.

Visa violations are classified as administrative infractions rather than criminal offenses. Boadu will likely have a hearing before an immigration judge, Counts said.

Under normal circumstances, Boadu would be deported one of two ways after his case is presented, Counts said.

He could be removed voluntarily, which would not hinder his ability to re-enter the United States legally in the future, Counts said.

Or Boadu could be formally deported, causing more serious penalties if he re-entered the country, Counts said.

Because charges have also been filed in Hennepin County, Boadu could be turned over to the county attorney once the INS tries his case.

“It is possible he could revert back to Hennepin County,” Counts said.

Boadu remains in INS custody and was not available for comment.

In other police news:

An 18-year-old woman reported a sexual assault to University police
Monday.

The alleged incident occurred Sunday between midnight and 3:30 a.m., according to the police report.

The woman received medical attention at the Fairview-University Medical Center emergency room, according to the police report.

The case remains under investigation.

Three men were charged last week for a string of thefts from motor vehicles in the Como neighborhood.

Minneapolis police arrested Jeremiah Michael Holmes, 22, and Roger Eugene Keesling, 21, of Minneapolis, and Alan Michael Greiner, 23, of Winsted, Minn., on Aug. 27 after three incidents occurred in the neighborhood.

The men were driving through the neighborhood when officers stopped the suspicious vehicle, according to the criminal complaint.

Greiner allegedly told police that the three men had stolen stereos out of vehicles near 18th Avenue Southeast. He gave officers permission to search his vehicle, where they discovered items identified by theft victims as their own, according to the complaint.

The men were charged with damage to property and burglary in the third degree. Holmes and Keesling were charged with theft of property – a gross misdemeanor -because this would be their first offense. Greiner was charged with a felony theft because it would be his second offense.

It is not unusual for a crime to be charged weeks or months after the fact if the defendants are not in custody. More serious crimes take precedence, said Minneapolis police Lt. Steve Kincaid.

A desk employee at the Best Western University Inn, located at 2600 University Ave. S.E., was robbed at gunpoint Jan. 21.

The masked gunman escaped with $175. There is no suspect information, Kincaid said.

“There have not been any other similar incidents reported in the city,” he said.

Joanna Dornfeld welcomes comments at [email protected]