Ridgeland and Eau Claire residents found guilty of Sand Creek robbery

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE — An Eau Claire resident and a Ridgeland resident have been found guilty of burglary and criminal damage to property in connection with an incident that occurred at a Town of Sand Creek residence last June.

Mark David Monson, 37, of Eau Claire, and Misty D. Cox, 39, of Ridgeland, were both charged with burglary to a dwelling and criminal damage to property.

 The Honorable Rod W. Smeltzer found Cox guilty March 5 after she pleaded no contest to the charge of burglary.

Charges against Cox of felony bail jumping, criminal damage and obstructing an officer were dismissed but read into the court record.

Monson pleaded guilty to burglary on May 6, and Judge Smeltzer dismissed the charge of criminal damage to property.

Monson was sentenced to three years of probation, 90 days in jail with Huber privileges and 50 hours of community service.

Cox was sentenced to two years in state prison and two years of extended supervision, which was imposed and stayed, and was placed on three years of probation.

Monson and Cox were both charged as a party to a crime.

According to the criminal complaint, a Dunn County sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to a residence on state Highway 64 the morning of June 28, 2012, on a complaint of a vehicle speeding off after taking items from a residence.

The person who made the complaint said he had witnessed a man and women loading items into a truck and leaving at a high rate of speed, causing certain items to spill out onto the road, such as trim, panel doors, carpeting, carpet remnants and counter tops.

While the deputy was talking to the complainant, a pickup truck arrived driven by Misty Cox.

When questioned by the deputy, Cox said the items came from a friend’s house on a different road and that she had only pulled into the Highway 64 driveway to turn around.

Cox’s daughter was in the truck as well and said her mother had called her only after the items had spilled out onto the road and did not know where they came from, the complaint states.

Cox admitted to deputies that Mark Monson had helped her load the truck but said again that the items did not come from the Highway 64 residence.

A second deputy contacted the deputy talking to Cox and said the Highway 64 residence was missing doors, trim and carpeting.

The two deputies inspected the Highway 64 residence and found that doors had been taken off by pulling out the hinge pins, leaving half the hinge on the door and half on the doorframe. The hinges on the doors in the pickup truck matched the hinges that were still left on the building, according to the complaint.

When deputies contacted Monson, he admitted that he and Cox had taken items from the Highway 64 residence because it was abandoned and he wanted to fix up his own house.

In 2008, Monson was one of two men charged with the sexual assault of an intoxicated victim at a Sand Creek residence. The pair threatened sheriff’s deputies with a 2×4 and an axe during a stand-off at the residence. The Menomonie Police Department S.W.A.T. team also responded to the scene.

In December of the following year, Monson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges of sexual assault and obstruction.

Monson also was charged in connection with the Red P meth lab in the Town of Stanton in 2010.

Charges of possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia to manufacture or store meth and a felon in possession of a firearm subsequently were dismissed on a prosecutor’s motion.

Monson pleaded no contest to the charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, was found guilty and was put on one year of probation.