Talkeetna robber changes plea

PALMER — One of four people implicated in the Talkeetna-area robbery of eight trick-or-treaters last Halloween night changed his plea Monday.

Aaron Tolen, 25, pleaded guilty to a consolidated felony count of first-degree burglaary, Assistant District Attorney Rachel Gernat said. In exchange, Tolen will serve seven years in prison.

The charge to which Tolen pleaded in state court relates to a cache of stolen vehicles, tools and other items troopers said they turned up while investigating the robbery. Troopers said most of the goods were linked back to several Talkeetna-area burglaries and thefts.

Tolen also faces charges of being a felon in possession of weapons and tampering with evidence. Whether or not any jail time resulting from that federal case is tacked on to those seven years or set to run concurrent with them is up to the feds, Gernat wrote.

Tolen was, along with Michael Scott Wilson, 25, one of the first to be arrested in the case.

According to troopers, the children reported that two masked women jumped from a truck and pointed a gun at the them, cranked off a round into the ground and demanded the candy. The women drove off with the treats and an iPhone a parent had sent along in case of emergency and was being held amidst one of the children’s candy.

Tolen and Wilson were later spotted at a local restaurant, having pulled up in the same truck the children described.

During interviews, Wilson pointed to Kendra Butts, 19, and Amber Martin, 21 as being the culprits in the robbery, according to troopers. Butts and Martin were Tolen and Wilson’s girlfriends.

In the month after the robbery, both Martin and Butts were apprehended.

But not, according to federal prosecutors, before Butts could talk to Wilson about possibly breaking into a police impound lot to remove evidence from the now-impounded truck. Tolen, according to federal prosecutors, also asked a third party to conceal evidence.

According to prosecutors, Tolen potentially faces 20 years in prison and $250,000 on the federal charges.

In April, a Palmer Grand Jury leveled more than 150 new charges against the four defendants for alleged crimes relating to the cache of stolen goods. In Tolen’s case, in addition to state charges of hindering prosecution, felon in possession of weapons and theft leveled after his Halloween-night arrest, he was hit with an additional 59 charges ranging from criminal mischief to first-degree burglary.

Butts and Martin have entered pleas to robbery in state court and will serve between seven and 11 years in prison. Butts has also entered a plea in federal court and has been sentenced to six months in prison for conspiring to obstruct justice.

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