12.13.23 – Barron News Shield
An investigation dating back seven months has resulted in a felony burglary charge against a 36-year-old Chetek man, according to a criminal complaint filed Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023, in Barron County Circuit Court.
Defendant Brandon L. Snyder is charged in connection with the May 15, 2023, theft of more than $6,600 in cash from a safe at the Whiskey Way Bar, Chetek.
The bar owner furnished surveillance video to a detective. It allegedly shows a hooded suspect breaking through a window, grabbing the safe from a countertop and loading it into a car, later described as a silver 2012 Mercedes Benz.
Officers were told that the money in the safe came from video poker and pull-tab machines.
Based on the description of the suspect vehicle, the detective later learned the name of the owner, even though the video didn’t show the license plate number. A bulletin about the Mercedes was then published in Barron and surrounding counties.
Later May 15, the detective learned that the defendant had allegedly tried to tamper with a video poker game at an Eau Claire bar. An employee with the video poker game company provided surveillance video. The detective recognized the defendant from previous contacts, because the defendant had once worked at the Barron County Jail.
The detective was told that the defendant had allegedly driven a Mercedes in past visits to the Eau Claire bar. But on this occasion, the video showed the defendant and another man arriving in an older Ford pickup truck.
A witness later contacted the detective to allege that the registered owner of the Mercedes was with her in Wisconsin Dells at the time of the break-in. The witness said she’d been told that “several people” were known to drive the car.
The next day, May 16, the detective saw a pickup truck matching the description of the one seen at the Eau Claire bar. Records were consulted to determine who owned the truck. It turned out that both the defendant and the owner of the Mercedes work for the man who owns the truck.
Later May 16, the detective saw the Mercedes parked in a driveway in the 1000 block of 24th Street, town of Chetek. The detective watched the property for four hours. During that time, he saw another vehicle pull in, driven by a man later identified from prior police contacts as Michael R. Guthrie.
The detective then got a search warrant for both the Mercedes and the home. It was executed at midnight May 16. No one was home, but officers found a third vehicle – a small red sedan — parked in the driveway. Records show it was registered to a man who wasn’t charged in the complaint. On the front seat was a wallet.
Officers used thermal imaging to search the area around the home and eventually found a man later identified as the defendant. At the time, the defendant was out on bond in connection with active felony cases in Eau Claire and Rusk counties. He was arrested.
Officers also found and interviewed witness Guthrie, who allegedly told them that the defendant had driven the red car to the property that day. A search of the wallet found in the vehicle resulted in the discovery of the defendant’s identification card, as well as two dozen $10 bills.
The Mercedes was also searched. In it, officers found broken glass believed to be connected to the Whiskey Way burglary, as well as a screwdriver believed to have been used to pry open the window at the bar.
Later on May 17, another search warrant was obtained to search a property in the city of Chetek that was known to have been visited by the defendant.
In the dresser drawer of a room believed to have been occupied by the defendant, officers found $1,000 in $20 bills, wrapped in a rubber band. The complaint said the cash was also believed to be connected to the bar burglary.
At the Barron County Jail May 17, officers conducted a lengthy interview with the defendant. He allegedly directed the attention of investigators to a woodburning stove at the town of Chetek property, and allegedly admitted to using the stolen cash to pay a debt and gamble.
Using that information, investigators went back to the rural Chetek home and got permission to search for the stove from a member of the family that owns the property. The searchers found ashes and burnt material that couldn’t be positively identified as having come from the safe.
However, in another interview at the jail on May 18, the defendant allegedly told investigators where they could find metal parts of the stolen safe.
According to the complaint, the burglary charge, when paired with a previous conviction for methamphetamine possession, could result in a maximum sentence of 18 and one-half years in prison.