Candy robber to serve six months

ANCHORAGE — Kendra Butts was sentenced Wednesday to six months in federal prison for charges relating to the robbery of eight trick-or-treaters in Talkeetna last year.

Butts, 19, had earlier pleaded no contest to one count of conspiring to obstruct justice.

According to a U.S. Attorney’s office press statement, Butts received a call from her boyfriend, Michael Wilson, who was and still is in prison awaiting trial for his role in the case.

The U.S Attorney said Wilson asked Butts to remove firearms from a truck in a police impound lot or, failing that, set the truck on fire. The firearms, the U.S. Attorney said, would have netted Wilson a number of federal charges if discovered.

Butts and another woman, Amber Martin are alleged to have been the masked pair who jumped from a truck in Talkeetna Halloween night, demanded candy, fired a round from a pistol and made off with the loot.

Wilson and another man, Aaron Tolen, were arrested that night, driving the truck the kids described, at a Talkeetna restaurant. Butts and Martin were apprehended later.

Both women have already pleaded no contest to robbery in state court where they are awaiting sentencing. Prosecutors have not yet reached a plea deal with Tolen or Wilson.

Both men face a significantly longer list of charges relating to a cache of stolen items Alaska State Trooeprs uncovered while investigating the robbery.