Two Dakota County Drug Task Force agents were sentenced to a year of probation this week after pleading guilty to intentionally breaking BB guns while searching a Burnsville house.

South St. Paul officer Leroy Jacob Smith and Farmington officer Peter James Zajac were convicted Tuesday of misdemeanor fourth-degree intentional damage to property in Dakota County District Court in Hastings. A charge of misconduct of a public officer, a gross misdemeanor, will be dismissed if they remain law-abiding for a year.

Smith and Zajac were also ordered to pay restitution of $316, the estimated value of the four broken BB guns.

Smith, Zajac and other drug task force members searched a home in the 11000 block of Keating Avenue on May 2. In the basement, Smith and Zajac found four BB guns that “looked like real guns,” according to a criminal complaint.

“There was nothing illegal about the BB guns, and nothing that would prevent the residents from lawfully possessing the BB guns,” the complaint said.

OFFICER APOLOGIZED FOR BREAKING BB GUN

When the search was over and the agents left, a resident discovered the guns were broken. She notified police.

Police began an investigation and “quickly discovered” Smith and Zajac broke the guns, according to the complaint. Task force photos taken during the search show the guns unbroken. Photos from afterward show them snapped in half.

When Smith and Zajac learned an investigation was underway, they told other Dakota County Drug Task Force agents they broke the guns. Both officers said they did it “to prevent them from being used in a crime in the future,” the complaint said.

A Shakopee police detective who investigated the incident tried to talk with Smith and Zajac, but they declined to be interviewed. In written statements to the detective, they admitted to breaking three of the guns. Zajac said he broke two and that it was “not right.” Smith said he broke one and he was “sorry.”

OFF TASK FORCE, ON LEAVE

When the allegations were made, Smith and Zajac were taken off the drug task force and put on paid administrative leave by their police departments. They remain on leave, pending results of internal investigations.

Smith, 28, has been a South St. Paul officer since 2014 and was assigned to the drug task force in September. His personnel file includes one internal complaint that resulted in a written reprimand in 2015 for a preventable traffic crash with another squad car, said South St. Paul Police Chief Bill Messerich.

Smith was presented with life-saving awards in 2016 and 2017, Messerich noted.

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Man reports he had to stab his dog after attack in St. Paul; police investigating “We hold the members of our department to high standards of conduct and this incident did not meet the expectations we have for our officers,” Messerich said in a statement. “While this incident is certainly concerning and disappointing, Officer Smith has accepted responsibility for his actions as demonstrated with a guilty plea at his initial court appearance.”

Zajac, 35, has been a Farmington officer since 2010 and was assigned to the drug task force in March. His personnel file has no past complaints or discipline, said Farmington Police Chief Gary Rutherford. He said he would not comment on the BB gun incident until the internal investigation is complete.