Disgruntled Eagan man charged with harassing neighbors

An Eagan man has been charged with stalking and harassing a couple next door, vandalizing their property and falsely alleging that one of them was an "ultra pervert."

Michael J. Gunderson, 47, was charged Monday in Dakota County District Court with two counts of stalking, one a felony and the other a gross misdemeanor.

One of the neighbors told police that Gunderson first became upset after receiving a letter from the neighborhood homeowners association, according to the criminal complaint, which did not reveal the letter's content. Starting in 2007 and continuing until less than two months ago, Gunderson unleashed an onslaught of damage to the couple's home and made accusations about them and others in letters he mailed to neighborhood residents, the complaint said.

The vandalism included cutting telephone and cable connections, sticking a running water hose into a window well, tampering with a gas grill, throwing a bird feeder into the woods and disabling their air conditioner.

This summer, Gunderson allegedly turned his anger toward city officials. In a letter to the city administrator, he claimed that the Police Department was mishandling drug evidence and that one of its detectives was hosting sex parties involving prostitutes and children, the complaint said.

Under questioning, the complaint said, Gunderson vented about the couple and repeated some of the earlier claims. When asked whether his actions were wrong, he allegedly said, "yeah."

Gunderson had been charged in 2005 with stalking and writing harassing letters in Rogers. Those charges were dropped in exchange for paying the costs of prosecution and his pledge to comply with certain conditions, police said.

PAUL WALSH