A South Dakota teen charged in a robbery, a carjacking and a burglary has pleaded guilty to 10 charges.
Jeff Brown Otter, 17, entered guilty pleas to South Central District Judge David Reich on Monday afternoon. Brown Otter originally had been charged in juvenile court with various offenses, but his case was moved to adult court Oct. 11.
Brown Otter pleaded guilty to Class A felony robbery; Class B felony charges of robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery; Class C felony charges of burglary and theft of property, and two counts of felonious restraint; Class A misdemeanor charges of possession of altered property and carrying a concealed firearm; and a Class B misdemeanor discharge of a firearm within city limits.
Reich ordered that a presentence investigation be conducted prior to Brown Otter's sentencing. The investigation will include a chemical dependency evaluation. Five of the charges Brown Otter is facing carry mandatory minimum sentences of four years in prison.
Employees of Subway, 301 S. Third St., reported Sept. 27 that a male in his late teens or early 20s entered the restaurant at 9:48 p.m. with a long-barreled gun and demanded employees give him money and food. Burleigh County Assistant State's Attorney Julie Lawyer said Brown Otter, who was identified on Subway surveillance video, was given several hundred dollars in cash.
On Sept. 28, two 21-year-old Bismarck women reported that two men wearing hooded sweatshirts approached them as they exited a vehicle parked near door No. 7 at the Ramkota Hotel at around 10 p.m. Both men wore bandannas over their faces, and one of them was carrying a long-barreled gun.
The men ordered the women to drive them to the area of South Washington Street and London Avenue. The women followed the orders, parking the car on London Avenue.
The men ordered the women to get out of the car and run, which they did. The driver of the vehicle took the keys with her.
As the women ran from the car, they heard a gunshot coming from behind them, and someone living in the neighborhood reported hearing something that sounded like a firework around the same time. The women called 911 from a residence in the area.
The suspects had fled the area before police arrived, but the vehicle was recovered in the neighborhood.
Lawyer said Brown Otter and a co-defendant in the case, Henry Long, were interviewed that night, as they were in the area. Both said they hadn't heard anything but were scared and had locked the windows, Lawyer said. She said police were suspicious when they noticed the windows were open and saw other things in the residence that caught their attention.
Brown Otter and Long were arrested on Oct. 1. Police recovered a shotgun believed to have been used in the Subway robbery and the carjacking. The gun was linked to a Sept. 17 burglary on the 400 block of Cambridge Drive in which five firearms were stolen along with alcohol bottles and duffel bags. Lawyer said Brown Otter's fingerprints were found on the shotgun and on shotgun shells.
According to court documents, the serial number had been removed from the shotgun.
Long was charged Oct. 2 with Class A felony accomplice to robbery, Class C felony burglary, Class C felony theft of property, Class B felony conspiracy to commit robbery and Class C felony felonious restraint. He is slated to appear at a preliminary hearing in the case on Dec. 3.
(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)
Posted in Local on Monday, November 26, 2007 6:00 pm Updated: 3:45 pm.
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