Panty raid? Underwear burglary leads to brief chase, arrest

Panty raid? Underwear burglary leads to brief chase, arrest

By Jeff Dankert / Winona Daily News

A trail of bras and panties led Winona police to a 24-year-old man they believe stole the underwear around midnight Monday from a home.

Jason Michael Cieminski was jailed on suspected charges of burglary, fleeing police and violating probation after officers flushed him from the home and found him 15 minutes later hiding on a porch.

Police got a call at 12:06 a.m. Tuesday from a woman near Wilson and Howard streets who said she awoke to noise, saw a light on and a window screen open. Frightened, she went to a relatives' home and called police.

Officers went to the home and heard footsteps inside. Police yelled for the unseen occupant to stop, but he went out the back door, jumped on a bicycle and fled toward Huff Street, police said.

The suspect grabbed bras and panties he had stuffed down his pants and threw them on the ground as he pedaled away, police said. Police followed Cieminski and the trail of undergarments and found him hiding on a porch less than a block away from the home, police said.

Police recovered nine bras, eight panties and two swimsuit tops.

On Aug. 4, 2005, police arrested Cieminski after a chase when they responded to a report of a man tearing a bathroom screen off a home in an apparent burglary attempt. He was convicted of fleeing and sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Cieminski was convicted of felony theft in 2003 and sentenced to five years probation for helping three others in September 2001 steal two newspaper vending machines in Lewiston and Utica that yielded $16.75 in quarters.