Two suspects in high-speed chase plead “not guilty,” charged with burglary in Eau Claire
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — Two of the suspects from Missouri allegedly involved in a burglary in Menomonie and a high-speed chase have pleaded not guilty in Dunn County and also have been charged with burglary in Eau Claire County.
Miltiano T. Johnson, age 42, and Anthony M. Jordan, age 32, were arraigned in Dunn County Circuit Court October 12 and entered pleas of “not guilty” with Judge James Peterson.
Following an October 5 preliminary hearing, Judge Peterson found probable cause in the cases against both defendants and bound them over for trial.
Johnson is charged with two felony counts of a burglary as a party to a crime and a vehicle operator fleeing police, and two misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property as a party to a crime and resisting or obstructing an officer.
Jordan is charged with one felony count of burglary as a party to a crime and two misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property as a party to a crime and resisting or obstructing an officer.
Judge Peterson set bail at $20,000 cash for Johnson and at $10,000 cash for Jordan September 30.
Johnson is charged with one felony count of burglary to a building in Eau Claire County.
Judge John F. Manydeeds set a cash bail of $25,000 for Johnson October 3 and ordered him to have no contact with co-defendant Jordan or with “Mac Man” as a condition of bail.
Additional conditions of bail are that Johnson is to have no violent or abusive contact or no acts or threats of violence toward anyone.
Jordan also is charged with one felony count of burglary to a building in Eau Claire County and bail also is set at $25,000 cash with the same conditions of bail as were set for co-defendant Johnson.
Johnson and Jordan are scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Eau Claire County Circuit Court October 18.
Johnson is scheduled for a status conference in Dunn County Circuit Court October 25, and Jordan is scheduled for a status conference October 19.
An officer with the Menomonie Police Department was dispatched to an alarm at T-Mobile on North Broadway in Menomonie at around 1:30 a.m. September 29. The alarm company had reported being able to see a glass break on the cameras, according to the criminal complaint.
The loss in property for T-Mobile was later determined to be nearly $12,000, not including property damage, the complaint states.
A Dunn County deputy responded to the scene of the T-Mobile burglary and began checking areas east of Menomonie to see if any other businesses may have been hit along the Interstate.
The deputy was scanning the Eau Claire Police Department channel and heard that a similar incident had occurred shortly before the call in Menomonie, that iPads had been stolen in a “smash and grab,” and that the suspect vehicle was described as a newer white Mercedes, the complaint states.
At around 2:20 a.m., the Eau Claire Police Department broadcast a description advising that the vehicle involved in the Eau Claire burglary appeared to be a Mercedes crossover SUV, white, with a black roof, according to the complaint.
In his report, which is included in the complaint, the deputy writes, “At about the same time of receiving the suspect vehicle information, I was on I-94 entering the crossover at mile post 56 near the Dunn and Eau Claire County line. At that time, I observed a matching vehicle pass by traveling westbound on I-94. I pulled out and began to follow the vehicle.”
The suspect vehicle reached speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour, but the vehicle began to lose a tire after driving over “stop sticks” set up by sheriff’s department deputies.
After the vehicle stopped, three people fled on foot. The driver was a black male wearing a white t-shirt and black pants. The front passenger was a black male wearing a blue hoodie, and a third passenger was a black male wearing a black hoodie with white lettering or a design on the back of the sweatshirt, the complaint states.
All of the men ran on foot over the Interstate fence and northbound into the wooded area where Johnson and Jordan were later located and taken into custody, according to the complaint.
The third suspect has not yet been found.
