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Terrell L. Quinn, 22, Kalan S. Mabins, 17, and Marcus L. Weston, 27, will each be charged with two counts of robbery by threat of force and one count each of burglary, operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent and criminal damage to property, Deputy District Attorney Loralee Clark said during a court hearing Thursday. Weston could also be charged with resisting arrest, Clark said.
The men were driving a handicapped-accessible Chevrolet Uplander reported stolen in Winona, La Crosse Police Chief Ed Kondracki said, and were arrested just minutes after they were seen breaking into a house in La Crosse.
Kondracki said information from residents and cooperation between officers from three law enforcement agencies led to the quick arrests.
Police say that during the brief crime spree, which started just before 9 p.m., the trio robbed and threatened to kill a 25-year-old man outside Kramer’s Bar at 1123 S. Third St. and an 18-year-old man in the parking lot of St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral before breaking into a home.
In the robberies, police said, the men stole a small amount of cash, one wallet, a Gameboy, an mp3 player, a radio and headphones, and three shoes.
Police managed to track the men, thanks to a neighbor who saw the men getting into the sport utility vehicle and passed on a description of the men, the vehicle and license plate number to police.
At 9:24 p.m., a Shelby police officer saw someone matching Quinn’s description enter the Arterial Tavern, 1003 S. 16th St., and stopped to question the man.
Meanwhile, a sheriff’s deputy spotted the vehicle nearby, and La Crosse police saw Weston and Mabins running through an alley near the bar. Officers chased the pair on foot but lost them. But a resident called police to report the men were hiding in his backyard.
The men were quickly found and were combative with officers and jailers who tried to book them into the La Crosse County Jail.
The stolen van belonged to Louise Prondzinski of Winona, who sometimes uses an oxygen tank, walker and cane — items that were in the van when it was allegedly stolen. She had returned home from work Wednesday, had dinner and was watching TV when her husband, Bob, noticed the vehicle was missing from their attached carport. The keys had been left in the van.
Louise Prondzinski said her health was not affected by the theft because she keeps a spare oxygen tank and cane in the house. But she can’t stop thinking about the incident, she said Thursday.
“They had a gun right outside my door,” she said. “They could have come in and robbed me and Bob.”
In court Thursday, Clark said Quinn and Weston have extensive criminal records but that Mabins apparently has a clean record.
Weston is on conditional release from the Winona County Jail with 16 charges pending from several incidents, including burglary, computer theft, assault with a dangerous weapon, domestic assault by strangulation and trespassing.
A jury trial set to begin Tuesday for Weston was postponed, and an arrest warrant was issued when he failed to show up on time. He had entered a Winona courtroom almost an hour late, and the warrant was quashed. A new date has not yet been set.
Quinn is on probation in Minnesota for striking a police officer in the throat in April while the officer was questioning him in an ongoing investigation. And in 2004, he was convicted in Cook County, Ill., of delivery of a controlled substance.
During a bond hearing Thursday, La Crosse County Circuit Judge Dale Pasell ordered Quinn and Mabins each held on $20,000 cash bonds and set bond at $30,000 cash for Weston.
Kevin Behr contributed to this report.
watchur6 wrote on Oct 17, 2008 12:01 AM: