By Alana Bleimann
SACRAMENTO –Defendant Andrew Kowalski—accused of tunneling his way into a COVID-19 padlocked nail salon and attempting to break into an ATM cash machine—will go before a jury after his preliminary hearing Monday in Sacramento County Superior Court.
Kowalski is charged with four separate counts, including second-degree burglary and intent to commit larceny after “tunneling his way through” the back of a local Sacramento nail salon and attempting to steal money, according to law enforcement testimony.
Judge James P. Arguelles gave a brief factual statement before beginning the preliminary hearing.
“[The defendant] entered a salon to commit a larceny and the same day also committed second-degree burglary and also on the same day, committed a misdemeanor and had burglary tools.”
Deputy District Attorney Emilee Divinagracia presented the first witness, Deputy Scott Brown, who revealed that in June of 2020, at around 10:52 a.m., the defendant was found parked in a sedan at Sacramento International Airport.
Deputy Brown made contact with the defendant, who identified himself and stated he was on formal probation at the time, and subject to a search by Brown.
“A glass pipe approximately four inches in length fell out of the door when it was opened…wrapped in a bandana…it hit the ground and broke,” Deputy Brown said, adding there were “12 various shapes and sizes of screwdrivers, prybars, sledgehammer, gloves, wire snips, bolt cutters, a propane torch, and a power cutting tool.”
The deputy claimed that this glass pipe is generally used for methamphetamine and that the additional tools are “commonly used as burglary tools.”
Assistant Public Defender Dina Stone argued that the alleged burglary tools could have various uses and that people could even “have the same items in your home,” suggesting the defendant was not planning to burglarize someone but instead is a construction handyman.
Two months earlier, the same defendant was found inside a nail salon with similar tools in his hand and scattered around the floor.
Officer Jorge Rodriguez, called to the stand by Divinagracia, received a call for service from the owner of Pearl Image Nail Salon.
The building “is a multi-suite business complex,” said Rodriguez, noting the call was for a “robbery in progress” in which a “white male subject with a metal-like object” illegally entered the salon.
Rodriguez arrived at the salon and arrested the defendant.
The nail salon owner, who said that normally the business would be open at 11 a.m. but was currently closed because of “the pandemic,” was there at that time, because the salon needed to be cleaned and there was notice of other break-ins in the area.
When the owner arrived, her boyfriend opened the door and “saw a male white subject inside the store” who had had a screwdriver in his hand. He asked the boyfriend “to please let him go,” said the owner in her statement.
Despite the defendant’s choice to remain peaceful, the boyfriend told him “if you want to get out of here you’re going to have to stab (me).”
Officer Rodriguez revealed that there was an area inside the salon with an ATM, and there were “multiple chairs stacked creating a small cave to kind of block whatever was happening behind the ATM,” he said. The ATM also had pry marks on it.
Additionally, it was revealed that the defendant entered the salon through the salon’s bathroom, which had an electrical utility room on the other side. This door had also been tampered with as there were “pry marks near the bolt area.
“There was a huge bag containing multiple tools,” according to Rodriguez, and “a flat head screwdriver on the floor…located near the ATM,” according to Divinagracia.
Public defender Stone argued that nothing was taken from the salon and the defendant was “cooperative and stayed in place with no violent behavior.”
Divinagracia countered that the defendant was on felony probation for the same conduct in 2019.
“He actually entered through a locked door and tunneled his way to get into the building that he was trying to steal from…it doesn’t really matter at all that he didn’t get away with it,” Divinagracia stated.
Judge Arguelles agreed with Divinagracia and declared that there was sufficient cause to find the defendant guilty of the charges against him at trial, which was set for late February.
Alana Bleimann is a junior at the University of San Francisco majoring in Sociology with a minor in Criminal Justice Studies. She is from Raleigh, North Carolina.
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