(credit: Buffalo Police Department)
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - A man from central Minnesota has been accused of damaging more than 100 vehicles by spreading nails on the road outside his home to punish drivers who drive at high speed.
Joseph Kurimay, 75, faces a crime of property damage.
According to a criminal complaint, the investigation began last October, when a woman in Buffalo told police that a nail had pierced her tire. When he took his car to the garage, the employees said they had seen many tires damaged by nails recently.
Police spoke with shop employees, who said they had repaired dozens of flat tires with exactly the same nails - 1.5-inch steel mason nail - in recent months.
An officer went to Menards at Buffalo to track the purchase of the nail. Surveillance videos and purchase records show an older man bought his nails four times, in July, August, September and October.
The police tracked one of the purchases to the credit card in the name of Kurimay. Outside Kurimay's house, an officer found a full nail on the road, and three pieces of partial nails.
The police searched Kurimay's house with a court order. During the search, Kurimay said he did not know what the mason was, and said he had never bought or owned. He also told police that he blamed the government for not solving the problem he reported and that "he brought the matter into his own hands in frustration," the complaint said.
According to criminal complaints, Kurimay told police earlier this year in a vehicle that drove on Jalan Pulaski, outside his home.
In Kurimay's garage, the police found a nearly empty box of stone nails. The police also requested Kurimay's identification, finding the credit card in his wallet that matched the one used to buy stone nails at Menards.
Several other car workshops reported repairing damaged tires with the same nails. In total, the police identified 115 victims and $ 22,630.03 in damage. Each victim stated that they had traveled on Jalan Pulaski before the nails pierced their tires.
Kurimay was the only person who bought certain stone nails in the months leading to damage at Menards in Buffalo.
If found guilty, Kurimay could face a five-year prison sentence and a $ 10,000 fine.
According to Kurimay's criminal record, he was fined for speeding several times.