Suspect in Twin Cities identity theft ring pleads guilty

One of two suspects behind the identity thefts of 250 people throughout the Twin Cities, including a Minneapolis City Council member, pleaded guilty this week in Hennepin County District Court.

Thomas Stoyka, 37, was convicted Tuesday of felony identity theft and sentenced to five years in prison. Authorities are still searching for his co-defendant, Emily Gerst, 34. They're accused of targeting scores of victims by forging paperwork, opening bank accounts and lines of credit through stores and online apps.

It's unknown how much financial damage they caused and unlikely they will ever repay the victims.

Stoyka was ordered to pay each victim $1,000 in restitution, which is required by state law in identity theft cases. But in an email to victims this week from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, they were told his prison wages won't be sufficient.

"The likelihood of you seeing the full $1,000 is slim, but it's more about the principle," the email said.

Minneapolis Council Member Linea Palmisano said in an interview Friday that she's relieved to have some legal closure, but her credit remains frozen 16 months after she was robbed of her identity and sense of security. In just 10 days, $12,000 was stolen from her until a vigilant Best Buy employee, Andre Cherkasov, became the linchpin to a complex investigation and criminal charges.

"The way this ended up coming to a head was the small actions of others. In this case, a total stranger," Palmisano said.

Cherkasov was working at the Richfield store Dec. 20, 2021, when Gerst opened a line of credit under the name of Palmisano — who was in Chicago with family for the holidays. A suspicious Cherkasov didn't think Gerst looked like the woman on Palmisano's ID. So he talked to Richfield police officer Amanda Johnson, who was on patrol there after Best Buys in the metro were hit by mass ambush thefts on Black Friday.

"He could have just let it go," Johnson said. "But because he got that hunch and decided 'I'm going to say something,' that kicked off this whole thing and allowed for a resolution."

Cherkasov said he's happy for the relief felt by victims with the guilty plea and the quick work of Johnson to prevent further harm.

"If these people wouldn't have been caught, how many other people could have been part of this whole scam?" he said.

Johnson confronted the suspects, but Stoyka fled while Gerst refused to identify herself. She had a credit card belonging to another identity-theft victim and the printed driver's license for Palmisano. It's still a mystery how they obtained Palmisano's Social Security number for Gerst to obtain a temporary driver's license at the Golden Valley office of Driver and Vehicle Services.

But Johnson was able to connect the dots, working hundreds of hours with a lot of overtime and support from her bosses to allow her to keep digging.

"It just was a situation that just kept snowballing," she said.

According to the charging documents, Gerst and Stoyka operated out of a storage unit on Hiawatha Avenue, where police found a wig, printer, laptop, blank checks, lock picks, keys, a state DVS stamper, flexible pipe camera and grabber tool to steal mail.

Johnson said she found their sophisticated operation by tracking one victim's fraudulent credit card charge at the storage unit. She tallied 158 identity-theft victims from evidence collected in the storage unit. The victims ranged in age from their early 20s to late 80s, and were of all economic backgrounds and ethnicities.

Edina police said they uncovered an additional 100 victims as part of a May burglary investigation involving Gerst and Stoyka.

Court records show Stoyka's felony identify theft charge related to the Edina burglary was dismissed when he entered his guilty plea.

Gerst appeared in court in September and was allowed conditional release, but she missed all subsequent court dates and a warrant is out for her arrest.

Johnson said she hopes Gerst is arrested so people don't have to worry about being victimized again. She advises people to check their credit score and put a lock on their credit if they don't plan on opening a new credit card or making a big purchase.

But for some of the victims like Palmisano, she's not sure how they would have protected themselves because it's unknown where their information was compromised.

"We throw so much information out there," she said. "It's hard to say if it's going to be safe or not, or where there may be an opportunity for a suspect to take advantage of it."

Palmisano thanked Cherkasov for his vigilance and intervention, and Johnson's tireless work exposing cracks the suspects slipped through.

"I consider myself lucky out of this because it could have been so much worse."