Man gets jail for thwarted golf course burglary
Aug. 7—EAU CLAIRE — A St. Paul, Minn., man will spend 60 days in jail for his role in the June burglary that was thwarted by the owners of Princeton Valley Golf Course on Eau Claire's north side.
Nicholas M. Mason, 31, pleaded guilty Friday in Eau Claire County Court to a felony count of burglary of a building.
Judge Sarah Harless placed Mason on four years of probation. As conditions of probation, Mason cannot have contact with the golf course and must undergo any recommended programming or treatment.
Co-defendant Tayler L. Frank, 29, also of St. Paul, was previously sentenced to one year in jail.
According to the criminal complaint:
The owners of the golf course, Ally Weyer and Josh Walberg, told police they were awakened by a loud banging noise at 4:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 23, as they were asleep in the upstairs apartment at the golf course.
When they came downstairs, they saw a U-Haul truck backed up near the front door to the clubhouse.
There were two people inside the building and they were about to tie a tow strap to the ATM machine that was just inside the doors of the building.
Walberg started yelling at the suspects, who ran back to the truck and jumped in.
Weyer said there was a male and a female in the truck as it started to leave the parking lot.
Weyer jumped into the bed of the truck just before it sped away. Walberg got into his personal vehicle and followed the truck.
As the truck was driving down LaSalle Street, Weyer was throwing items from the bed of the truck.
The truck stopped in the 3600 block of LaSalle Street, and the male and female got into a U-Haul van, which sped off westbound on LaSalle Street.
Police developed information that two U-Hauls were involved in the burglary with three to five suspects wearing facemasks.
Police found two abandoned U-Haul vehicles. One was stolen out of New Brighton, Minn., while the second was stolen out of Eau Claire.
The suspects were also believed to have been involved in burglaries on the same day at storage units on Melby Street.
A witness called police about two hours later to report that the suspects involved in the golf course burglary may be hiding in the 2700 block of Eddy Lane.
Police located two suspects, Frank and Mason, and took them into custody.
A third suspect fled on foot.
Mason was initially taken to a local hospital as he ingested methamphetamine just prior to his arrest.
During the booking process, Frank said her feet were all "torn up" as she hadn't been wearing any shoes during the incident.
