Feds add charges for candy robbers

MAT-SU — Three out of four people arrested in connection with the Halloween robbery of eight trick-or-treaters in Talkeetna now face charges in federal court.

Aaron Joel Tolen, 25, of Wasilla and Michael Scott Wilson, 25, of Palmer face obstruction of justice and weapons misconduct charges, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage has announced. Kendra Grace Butts, 19, of Palmer also faces an obstruction of justice charge, according to the announcement.

Tolen and Wilson were the first arrested during the robbery investigation. They were found at Latitude 62, a Talkeetna bar and restaurant, in a truck the children identified as the one from which the robbers sprang.

According to the children, the robbers were women and neither Tolen nor Wilson has been charged with the robbery, but both face state charges of hindering prosecution and being felons in possession of weapons.

Tolen also faces a theft charge after Alaska State Troopers say he stole the badge from a trooper hat while awaiting transport to the Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility.

For their part, state prosecutors have charged Butts and a fourth defendant, Amber Martin, 20, of Wasilla, with seven counts of robbery and eight of assault, one for each child robbed, according to court records. One child refused to give up the candy.

U.S. attorneys say the new weapons misconduct charges relate to 12 guns found in the truck the men were driving.

The new obstruction of justice charges for Butts and Wilson spring from phone calls Wilson made to Butts from prison asking her to break into the troopers’ impound lot to get the guns or, alternately, burn her truck to destroy evidence, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Tolen’s obstruction charge relates to a request made of an unnamed third party to hide evidence.

Trooper reports say Wilson told troopers at the time of his arrest that his girlfriend, Butts, and Tolen’s girlfriend, Martin, met up with them soon after the robbery and told them about it.

Troopers eventually caught Martin during a Nov. 2 traffic stop and Butts soon after hiding in a Big Lake crawl space.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.