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Superior Court Judge Brian Wilks told the former law enforcement officer looking him in the eyes that there was nothing more he could do for him.
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Monyae Revels, 23, had just pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing thousands of dollars in furniture from the former officer, Mark Zajdel of Cary. Zajdel believes Revels stole more than $23,000 in property and was engaged in other possibly criminal activity in the condo he owned and rented to the man.
But Durham police and prosecutors told him they wouldn’t investigate further.
“I cannot make the police officers further investigate something,” Wilks said, minutes after accepting Revels’ plea.
Zajdel captured Revels last year on security camera footage carting furniture from the furnished downtown Durham condo he rented into multiple vehicles, The News & Observer previously reported.
Revels received a plea arrangement allowing him to avoid prison. He will instead serve two years of supervised probation. He must repay Zajdel a little over $5,700 — what Zajdel calls an incomplete initial estimate from the first police report. In exchange for his plea, the charge of identity theft against him will be dismissed.
“From my perspective, that sends the wrong message,” Zajdel said in court Thursday. “It makes the crime look profitable.”
Zajdel, who once served in the Cary Police Department, owns several furnished condominiums in downtown Durham. He spoke with The N&O this summer after more than a year of frustration and back-and-forth emails with the Durham County District Attorney’s Office. He said he couldn’t understand why Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Ingram wouldn’t update the restitution amount or acknowledge many of his emails.
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Ingram and District Attorney Satana Deberry did not respond to requests for comment from The N&O.
Zajdel was especially concerned by Revels’ identity theft charge, which he believed merited a larger investigation. Revels was charged with stealing the identity of a man named Anthony Dawes. It’s not clear how he allegedly stole Dawes’ identity, and The N&O has not been able to get in contact with the real Dawes.
Court records reviewed by The N&O show at least 24 evictions under Dawes’ name in North Carolina from 2024 to 2026. Many of those evictions overlapped, as though Dawes was living in multiple properties at once. Several landlords who spoke with The N&O shared similar stories to Zajdel’s.
Revels didn’t speak during Thursday’s hearing, and defense attorney John Fitzpatrick offered no explanation for his actions. After Zajdel read his victim impact statement, Wilks said the court could only make decisions based on what the District Attorney’s Office presented.
“(Ingram) has the file. She knows what was given to her by the police officer,” Wilks said. “Probation is what is normally offered in these cases.”
That didn’t assuage Zajdel’s concerns.
“When basic, everyday crimes are glossed over, criminals can begin to believe that they have found a place where they can operate with little consequence,” he said. “That is not good for the victims, and it is not good for Durham.”
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