3 charged in one of Minnesota's biggest gun shop burglaries
Federal authorities have indicted three people in connection with a break-in at a southern Minnesota gun shop last September.
The U.S. Attorney for Minnesota announced the charges Thursday. They involve weapons stolen from Millville Rod and Gun Shop in what an ATF official says was one of the state's largest gun shop burglaries in recent years.
All three people are charged with having stolen guns and with conspiracy to possess or distribute stolen guns.
Who's charged
One of the suspects is a 19-year-old Winona man, Trinity James Wicka, who investigators say broke into the Millville shop with two other people on September 2 and stole about 75 firearms – most of them handguns – along with ammunition.
Also charged is Alex Boyd, 38, who authorities say used some of the stolen guns in two Winona robberies later that night. The third suspect is Sasha Erdner, 30.
The charges list the hometowns of Boyd and Erdner as "unknown." Boyd has a felony record, so he's also charged with illegally possessing a firearm.
According to the Star Tribune, an ATF agent says Sasha Erdner told investigators that Wicka dropped off two bags each containing 20-30 guns at her RV and that someone later broke into the RV and took them.
The paper says authorities identified Wicka's two accomplices in the original burglary as juveniles.
Most of the guns are still out there
The U.S. Attorney's statement says that on September 16 a juvenile was found with 15 of the guns stolen from Millville. But most of the handguns are still missing and authorities want tips from anyone who might have any information about them.
The ATF offered a $5,000 reward last fall for help recovering the guns or the thieves.
Keith Shones, the owner of Millville Rod and Gun Shop, shared surveillance footage of the burglary with television stations in September. Shones, whose home is adjacent to the shop, told ABC 6 News the whole thing took barely a minute and the thieves got away with $40,000 to $60,000 worth of guns.
