Defendants appear in Red Willow County District Court

Muddy footprints lead to conviction

Muddy foot prints led law enforcement to the arrest of an Indianola man who was charged with burglary.

According to courts records, Robert McConville of Indianola called the Red Willow County Sheriff's office Oct. 15, when he found his shop building in Indianola had been burglarized. Two doors were kicked in and a billfold containing $600-700 in cash was missing. The billfold had been hidden in a desk drawer underneath other items, leading law enforcement to suspect that whoever broke in was familiar with the shop.

A muddy boot print had been left on one of the kicked-in doors. Deputies also noticed two sets of footprints outside the shop, coming from an alfalfa field towards the shop and another two sets of prints going back to the field. One set of those prints matched the boot print left on the kicked-in door.

Deputies learned that Trevor Gray, 18, of Indianola and a student staying at the McCook Community College dorms, had worked for McConville this past summer.

When law enforcement spoke with Gray's mother, at her residence in Indianola, they found that foot prints on a dust path leading up to her residence matched those found at the shop.

Later, they spoke with a friend of Gray's who admitted that he had gone with Gray to McConville's shop to look at cars and that Gray had gone inside the shop instead. Gray's roommate at MCC also told deputies that he had noticed that Gray had a unusually large amount of money in his billfold when they had recently purchased groceries together.

Gray was charged with the Class III felony of burlgary. He pleaded guilty in a plea agreement Monday in District Court and sentencing has been set for Feb. 4 at 2 p.m.

Man pleads guilty to counterfeit travelers' checks

A Benkelman man, who with his wife allegedly cashed 18 counterfeit traveler checks at area banks, pleaded guilty to amended charges in District Court Monday.

Russell Frere, 63, was originally charged with first degree unlawful circulation of a financial transaction devise and criminal possession of a transaction devise, both Class III felonies. He pleaded guilty in a plea agreement to the first charge, with the other two dismissed.

Local law enforcement were notified in August that a couple that had cashed counterfeit American Express travelers' checks at the AmFirst Bank in Benkelman and at Amfirst Bank in McCook.

According to police records, Maryalice Frere allegedly cashed $2,100 of traveler checks at the Benkelman bank Aug. 6, depositing $300 in their bank account and accepting $2,100 in cash. The couple allegedly tried to cash more checks later in the day but were turned away by the bank staff, who told them they were determining the legitimacy of the previous checks.

They then allegedly cashed in six counterfeit traveler's checks at the bank in McCook.

On Aug. 7, the bank staff at AmFirst in McCook notified police as the couple were in the lobby filling out deposit slips to cash four Visa traveler's checks.

Law enforcement arrived and asked the couple, along with a female who had given them a ride from Benkalman, for interviews, which they agreed to.

The female who had given them the ride was not aware of what the couple were doing, police records showed.

The Frere's, who had moved to Benkelman from Georgia in April, were interviewed and told police they purchased the traveler's checks from a store in Omaha, but were unable to recall the name of the store.

The money to buy the checks had come from Maryalice's home business and from Russell's brother in Wyoming, they told police.

Sentencing for Russell Frere is 1 p.m. Feb. 4.

Maryalice Frere has plea-ded not guilty to first degree unlawful circulation of a financial transaction devise and criminal possession of a transaction devise, both Class III felonies. Trial has been set Jan. 9

Man convicted after drug arrest at Butler Lake

A man arrested for possession of methamphetamine while he was parked at Hugh Butler Lake pleaded guilty in District Court on Monday.

An officer with the Nebraska State Patrol noticed a suspicious vehicle parked at the lake July 21 and ran a background check on the vehicle.The check revealed that Mark C. Johnston, 37, of 1109 E. Fourth, had an active warrant for his arrest out of Buffalo County in Kearney.

When the trooper searched the vehicle, he found methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Johnston was originally charged with possession of a controlled substance, a Class IV felony, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia, both infractions.

In a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance with the other two charges dismissed.

Sentencing is Feb. 4, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.

Also seen in District Court was James T, Richardson, 24, of 38565 Quail Trail in McCook.

Richardson denied he had violated conditions of parole and a trial date was set for 11 a.m. Jan. 7.

Richardson was originally sentenced in May 2006 to 30 months probation for nine counts of criminal mischief.

Conditions of his probation that he allegedly violated included failure to report for drug testing four times and Richardson admitting that he had consumed alcohol and smoked marijuana.

Alert cleaning staff leads to meth bust

An alert cleaning staff led to the arrest of man using methamphetmine at a local motel.

Kenneth J. Jackson, 38, and two other people checked into the Cedar Motel Sept. 8 and paid for the room on a weekly basis. Almost two weeks later, Jackson informed the motel staff that he would be staying in the room alone.

Cleaning staff had been able to clean the room twice in that two-week period, with the occupants asking only for extra towels.

The cleaning staff were able to enter the room Sept. 24 to clean it when Jackson was absent, and found a glass pipe hidden under the bed, with smaller pipes on the table containing white powder residue. Law enforcement were then notified.

Jackson was arrested the next day.The residue on the pipes later tested positive for methamphetamine.

Jackson, who listed his address as the Cedar Inn, No. 10, was originally charged with possession of a controlled substance, methampheta-mine, a Class IV felony and possession of drug paraphernalia, an infraction.

He pleaded no contest in a plea agreement to the amended charges of attempted possession of a controlled substance, a Class I misdemeanor with the other count dismissed.

Sentencing has been set for Feb. 4, 2008 at 2:30 p.m.