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Michigan man pleads not guilty to three felonies committed in Phillips County in 2013

A Michigan man was recently charged with three felonies in Philips County District Court after a wild night in which he allegedly burned a stolen vehicle, robber a number of county residents and stole another vehicle.

Jason Nicholas Leteff, 36 of Pinckney, Mich., pleaded not guilty criminal mischief, theft, and evidence tampering in district court on Wednesday, May 28 as he appeared in court via Justice Video Network (JVN).

On July 24, 2013, The Phillips County Sheriff’s Office received a call from a local resident reporting a vehicle fire at the railroad depot in Malta. Two sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and saw the vehicle, a Jeep, completely engulfed in flames near the tracks. After making sure there were no bodies in the car, the deputies noted the vehicle’s plates, ran a check and found that the car was registered in New York Mills, Minn. Earlier that evening, one of the two deputies on the scene had seen the same vehicle parked at a bar in Saco.

While the two deputies were on the scene, PCSO dispatch received a call from a Phillips County resident reporting a theft. Deputies drove to the house where the complaint originated and were told that someone had broken into the homeowner’s car and stole a wallet with $400, a digital camera, and other personal belongings.

The following morning, PCSO received another call concerning theft from a Phillips County Resident after a 2003 Hyundai Elentra was stolen from the property. The car is valued at over $1500.

Later that morning the PCSO received yet another call reporting a theft from a vehicle parked on the property of another Phillips County Resident. When the deputy arrived on the scene he investigated they where informed by the caller that an army cot, fishing equipment, a tool box, two small flash lights, a tire gauge, two beach towels and two check books were missing from the car. The caller told the deputy that she had seen a dark colored van leaving the area earlier the night before.

Also on July 25, a man who was in Malta visiting friends alerted the sheriff’s office that he had gone into a local convenience store and left his checkbook – which also had $1,000 worth of cash in it – in his car while he went into the store. When he came back to his vehicle the checkbook and cash were gone.

The sheriff’s office ran the VIN number of the burned Jeep and discovered that it did not match the plates. The Rock County Sheriff’s Office in Hardwick, Minn., reported that a 1997 Jeep Cherokee with the matching VIN of the burned jeep was taken by the defendant, Leteff, from his estranged wife in Minnesota and that Leteff had an outstanding warrant for larceny.

A sheriff’s deputy went back to the bar in Saco where the vehicle had last been seen and the bartender confirmed, after looking at a picture of Leteff, that the man had indeed been at the bar the night before.

On July 31, a sheriff’s deputy from the Davison County Sheriff’s Office in South Dakota called the PCSO and reported that they had found the 2003 Elentra that had been stolen in Malta. He said that the vehicle was inoperable due to front end damage.

The Davison County Sheriff’s Office arrested Leteff at a South Dakota motel and in his possession where the keys to the Elentra, one of the stolen check books and four of the credit cards stolen on the night of the 24th.

Leteff pleaded not guilty on all charges and was denied bail as he is considered a high flight risk.

Leteff is charged with three felonies for criminal mischief, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a fine not to exceed $50,000, or both, tampering with evidence, a felony, which carries the same punishment as the above crime and theft, a felony, same punishment as above.

An omnibus hearing is set for June 24 at 10:15 a.m. The defendant is in Valley County Detention Center.

 

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