Second ATM plot suspect pleads guilty to aggravated robbery
Ashlee Lynn Hales, 34, of Ogden; Rainier Adam Such, 31, of Riverdale; and Kacy Morrell Peterson, 48, of Brigham City were charged in a failed ATM heist on Halloween 2016 and a plot to stun and rob an ATM technician. Hales agreed to a plea bargain and will testify against the other two.
Kacy Morrell Peterson, 48, of Brigham City, is one of three people charged in a failed ATM heist on Halloween 2016 and a plot to stun and rob an ATM technician.
OGDEN — A Brigham City man charged in an alleged plot to assault and rob an ATM technician has pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, which could draw a sentence of 5 years to life in prison.
Kacy Peterson, 49, on Tuesday, June 6, agreed to a plea bargain in return for prosecutors dropping four other charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced July 31 by 2nd District Court Judge Scott Hadley. He remains held in the Weber County Jail.
RELATED: Defense attorney: Police informant was ‘driving force’ in ATM robbery plot
Peterson was one of three people charged in what the Utah Attorney General’s Office said was a scheme in October and November 2016 to use a Taser on an ATM repairman and take his keys to get money out of the machine.
Peterson’s girlfriend, Ashlee Hales, 34, of Ogden, pleaded guilty in January to a charge of second-degree felony attempted theft and, in return, prosecutors dismissed four other felony charges. Hales agreed to testify against the other defendants, state prosecutors said in court documents.
Rainier Such, 31, of Riverdale, is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 24. His attorney, Randall Richards, on April 18 obtained an order from Hadley severing Such’s case from Peterson’s.
“There is a good likelihood that there would be competing and conflicting defenses presented by the two defendants,” Hadley said in the order.
The judge also said “there may be issues of entrapment” because the key witness against Such is a confidential informant who, with police knowledge, participated in the planning and the first action phase of the alleged conspiracy — a failed attempt to pull an ATM machine out of a Plain City credit union on Halloween morning.
Hadley in March agreed to provisionally admit the informant’s testimony, but Such’s attorney, Randall Richards, argued the informant’s actions were colored by his motivation to get a felony conviction wiped from his record.
Richards said Such’s involvement began with the informant asking him “how to get away with a perfect crime.” He said Such answered “in friendly, humorous banter describing how to get away with a perfect crime in the area in which he had expertise as an ATM technician.”
The informant “was the driving force in any of the activities of this group (and) Such, Hales and Peterson went along with the conversation with no intent of committing a crime,” Richards said.
He added, referring to a U.S. Supreme Court case, Sherman v. United States, “Law enforcement is not allowed to manufacture crimes with an intent of entrapping innocent citizens.”
Hadley said he would issue a final ruling on the admissibility of the informant’s testimony after he reviews it. Prosecutors have not formally submitted the evidence.
The Attorney General’s Office in November filed charges against Such, Peterson and Hales, saying they and a “concerned citizen” cooperated in the scheme. State agents arrested the suspects a few days after the aborted credit union heist and before the repairman assault could occur, attorneys said in charging documents.
You can reach reporter Mark Shenefelt at mshenefelt@standard.net. Follow on Twitter at @mshenefelt and Facebook at www.facebook.com/SEmarkshenefelt.