An Oakdale police officer made a series of harassing phone calls while doing surveillance on a man with a felony arrest warrant, leading the man to become paranoid and go outside his home with a shotgun, according to charges filed Friday.

Charles Anthony Nelson, 41, of St. Paul, was charged in Washington County District Court with two counts of gross misdemeanor harassment and one count of gross misdemeanor misconduct by a public officer.

Nelson has been put on paid leave, according to a statement issued by the city Friday night. He’s been an Oakdale officer since Dec. 20, 2006.

A spokeswoman for the attorney’s office said Nelson has not been arrested because he was charged by summons and that he is scheduled to make a first appearance on the charges Jan. 26. An attorney for Nelson wasn’t listed as of Friday.

According to the criminal complaint:

On Sept. 22, Nelson and officer Andrew Dickman were dispatched to the man’s home on Greystone Avenue and “ordered not to engage with the individual, specifically due to his reported mental health issues and potential diagnosis of schizophrenia,” the complaint states. “His recent actions were escalating, and it was known that he possessed firearms and had recently made threats of violence.”

Shortly after arriving at the home around midnight, Nelson downloaded a phone app that disguises the phone number of incoming calls. He then began making calls to the man, more than 30 of them over the next two hours.

The man answered several of the calls, but Nelson did not say anything. When the man called Nelson back at 1:25 a.m., the officer denied making the calls.

The man then reported the calls to Washington County dispatch. He also called the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and asked who was calling him.

“The calls were escalating the condition and behavior of the Victim to such an extent that he exited his residence with a shotgun,” the complaint said.

Washington County SWAT was called to the man’s home and arrested him.

Nelson worked the remainder of the weekend and, “despite knowing that his phone calls and actions exacerbated the situation” with the man, he did not report that he made them, the complaint states. He also omitted the calls in his incident report related to the man’s arrest.

Five days after the incident, Dickman reported to his supervisor that Nelson was the source of the calls and “believed they did in fact escalate the subject’s behavior,” the complaint states.

Oakdale Police Chief Nick Newton contacted the BCA, who began an investigation. The man’s wife told a BCA agent that he called her that night and told her about the calls, which she said made him “paranoid,” the complaint states.

In an interview with BCA agents, Nelson admitted to making the calls and “claimed it was to ‘build rapport’ and incredulously stated he did not identify himself because he did not want to scare [the man],” the complaint states.

On Friday, Newton said in an email to the Pioneer Press that he cannot comment beyond the city’s statement. It read in part, “OPD finds police misconduct intolerable. Chief Newton strives to hold any officer found to engage in misconduct accountable and to respond with appropriate employment action.”

In a statement released by the attorney’s office, Attorney Kevin Magnuson said he commends Newton and the police department for “taking swift action in this matter and for recognizing the significance and gravity of the allegations.”

Related Articles

• Crime & Public Safety | Gunman, accomplice sentenced for fatal shooting at St. Paul hotel parking garage

• Crime & Public Safety | Police: Robbers zip-tie employees at Inver Grove Heights bank, remain at-large

• Crime & Public Safety | Minnesota tribes issue license plates raising awareness of missing and murdered Indigenous persons

• Crime & Public Safety | MN task force details unique plight of missing, murdered Black females

• Crime & Public Safety | Misdemeanor charges dismissed against Vikings offensive lineman Oli Udoh