Sentence delayed for Halloween bandit

PALMER — A woman who robbed eight trick-or-treaters for their candy in 2007 will have to wait until March to receive her sentence.

Kendra Butts, 20, is expected to testify in the trial of her co-defendant, Michael Wilson, so her sentencing was delayed until after his trial.

Butts and Amber Martin, 21, were the gun-toting thieves who held up the children in Talkeetna on Halloween. But Wilson and Aaron Tolen were the first arrested in the case. As the Alaska State Troopers conducted their investigation, they discovered a cache of stolen goods that yielded a slew of theft and burglary charges against Tolen and Wilson.

Butts and Martin were also hit with criminal charges stemming from the cache, but both have seen those charges dropped as part of their respective plea agreements.

At her change of plea hearing in May, Butts agreed to between seven and 11 years in prison in exchange for her plea. She was set to formally accept her sentence Monday. But prosecutor Trina Sears and defender Lyle Stohler said they’d reached an agreement to wait until after Wilson’s trial.

Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler said that trial is scheduled for Feb. 17. She put Butts on her calendar for March 6.

Just before the court adjourned, Sears put Butts on notice that prosecutors weren’t looking kindly on written correspondence between Butts and Wilson that surfaced in September. The two were dating at the time of the robbery.

As part of the agreement, Butts has been ordered not to contact Wilson. Cutler re-iterated that order and Sears said her office is mulling possible criminal charges.

Regardless, she said, any future contact could scuttle her robbery plea.

“You could consider a violation to possibly pull the floor out of the plea bargain?” Cutler asked Sears.

“Yes,” Sears responded.

The only one of the four defendants to receive a sentence is Tolen, 25, who pleaded to one count of burglary and received a seven-year sentence in exchange. Martin has reached a similar deal with prosecutors and is also expected to accept her sentence after Wilson stands trial.

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