On September 5, 2025, at 9:17 A.M., Officer Koethe with the Oakdale Police Department was dispatched to Oakdale Rental Center located at [ADDRESS REDACTED] North in the city of Oakdale, Washington County, regarding a theft of equipment. Upon arrival, Officer Koethe spoke with the owner, M. S., who stated that on September 2 she received a request for an online quote for rental of a Haulotte self-propelled boom lift. The request came from "Peter Bisica", phone number [PHONE REDACTED], and email [email redacted]. P. S. Entered into a rental contract with "Peter Bisica" in which the lift would be rented from September 2 at 5:33 P.M. To September 3 at 8:00 A.M., for $292.12. A Mastercard ending in 2710 was used for payment.
The address for "Peter Bisica" provided in the rental contract was 120 8th Avenue SE, #5, Forest Lake, MN 55025, and phone number [PHONE REDACTED]. M. S. Stated that the renter provided a [DL# REDACTED] of E765018713818, which Officer Koethe confirmed lists to Peter Emil Bisila, [DOB REDACTED]. M. S. Provided photos of the truck and trailer that were used by the renter to transport the lift. The truck was a dark-colored, older model Ford F150, which bore Minnesota license plate [PLATE REDACTED] and the trailer Minnesota license plate [PLATE REDACTED]. Officer Koethe searched both plates through DVS and learned that there was no record of the first plate.
The second plate (trailer) registered to Joseph Chris Hernandez, [DOB REDACTED]. M. S. Explained that the lift was not returned on September 3. Over the next few days, M. S. Tried calling both phone numbers that were provided by the renter, sent emails and text messages, with no response. M. S. Reported the value of the lift is $67,000. Officers went to the address associated with Bisica but did not find the lift. On September 16, M. S. Reported that the lift's manufacturer informed her the lift has a GPS tracking system hardwired into it, which pings the location every Monday night at 9:00 P.M. M. S. Stated that on September 8 and 15, the lift pinged within 1500 meters of Vadnais Heights near 35E. On October 6, Captain Stuart ran the two license plates associated with the lift rental through Oakdale's Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) database and learned that the trailer was captured on camera on September 14 at 6:43 P.M. At the 7200 block of 10th Street North, heading westbound.
The trailer was being towed by a different truck, a silver Ford F150 extended cab with chrome running boards. The F150's license plate was obscured by the trailer. On October 7, Detective Pierre reviewed surveillance images of the suspect from inside Oakdale Rental Center, compared them to Peter Bisila's driver's license photo, and determined they are not the same person. Detective Pierre ran the suspect images through an open source booking photo locator, which provided a possible match to STEPHEN THOMAS PAUL, [DOB REDACTED]. Detective Pierre ran PAUL'S name through DVS and found a listing for the same name and date of birth, with an address of 120 8th Avenue SE, [APT REDACTED], Forest Lake, MN 55025, which is nearly identical to the address that was used on the rental contract.
