Trial cancelled for Elk Mound armed robbery suspect, guilty plea expected

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE — A two-day trial in Dunn County for a 21-year-old Eau Claire man charged in connection with the armed robbery of the I-94 Mart in the Town of Elk Mound in November of 2011 has been cancelled

Christopher L. Bollom was scheduled to go on trial January 24 and 25, but during a court hearing January 18, Dunn County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Maki reported to Judge Rod Smeltzer that the Bollom case in Dunn County was being consolidated with a case in Chippewa County.

Bollom is charged in Chippewa County with two felony counts of burglary/armed with a dangerous weapon and two felony counts of bail jumping. He also is charged in Chippewa County with four other felony counts of burglary, two felony counts of theft and one misdemeanor count of criminal damage to property.

In Dunn County, Bollom is charged with one felony count of armed robbery.

Two other co-defendants have already pleaded guilty to the charge of armed robbery in the Town of Elk Mound case.

Jordan R. Dickinsen, 21, was sentenced by Judge Smeltzer on January 11 to five years of initial confinement in a state prison and five years of extended supervision.

Dickinsen currently is serving a two-year prison term in Green Bay on a separate conviction.

Brandon L. Hurlburt of Cadott, who was 17 at the time of the robbery in November of 2011, entered his guilty plea as a party to a crime November 26 in Dunn County Circuit Court before Judge Smeltzer.

Hurlburt was arrested in December of 2011 for a robbery earlier in the month at the G&64 Country Store in the Town of Ruby in Chippewa County.

Hurlburt has already been sentenced in the Chippewa County case and was placed on five years of probation, with the condition that one year be served in the county jail and that Huber privileges for work and school would be allowed after the first six months had been served.

In the Dunn County case, Hurlburt is scheduled to be sentenced February 8.

Bollom is scheduled for a plea hearing in Chippewa County on February 20.

Maki told the court that he had offered to consolidate all three of the Dunn County cases with Chippewa County but that only Bollom had taken him up on the offer.

Bollom, who is represented by attorney Francis Rivard, is scheduled for a plea hearing in Dunn County Circuit Court on March 11.

Hurlburt told investigators that he and Bollom had burglarized a home in Chippewa County on November 2, 2011, and had taken a large container of coins. They went to Festival Foods in Eau Claire and met Dickinsen, cashed in the coins, went to a strip club in the Twin Cities, bought marijuana, and then traveled back to Menomonie in the early morning of November 3 and discussed committing an armed robbery.

According to a news release from the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department, on November 3, 2011, two men wearing ski masks entered the I-94 Mart at the intersection of Interstate 94 and state Highway 29 at 6:39 a.m. One of the suspects was armed with a handgun and an undisclosed amount of money was taken.

The weapon used in the Town of Elk Mound armed robbery turned out to be a BB gun that resembles a pistol.

The clerk who was on duty had no way of knowing the weapon was a BB gun and feared for her life.

A $5,000 cash bond was set for Bollom in Dunn County on January 4, 2012, and a $5,000 signature was set in both Chippewa County cases on October 12, 2012.

A $50,000 cash bond was set for Dickinsen in Dunn County in December of 2011.

A $10,000 cash bond was initially set in Dunn County for Hurlburt in January of 2012 and was modified to a $20,000 signature bond November 26.