May 30—HOUSTON, Minn. — Three Wisconsin individuals face felony charges after burglarizing and trying to steal an ATM from a Houston, Minnesota gas station.

One of the three people was found in a running car outside the store. Another came out after a brief standoff with law enforcement that started in part because the third person got stuck trying to flee the store.

According to the criminal complaint:

Houston County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a burglary at the River Station store in the city of Houston at about 2 a.m. Sunday, May 26, 2024. The store owner was alerted when two people smashed in the front door. The owner saw on surveillance video people wearing black hoods inside the store. Deputies arrived and found one person, Hanna Jean Goyette, 21, sitting in a running vehicle next to the store and took her into custody. Goyette said her boyfriend was in the store and said she didn’t think he was armed.

Deputies and other law enforcement officers set up a perimeter around the store and called for the people inside to come out. About 45 minutes later, one of the people inside began trying to punch through an attic vent on the building’s north side. An hour into the response, the person trying to escape through the attic vent, identified as Joel Wilson Cruz, 36, told law enforcement he wasn’t able to get out of the building as he was ordered.

Cruz also told deputies he didn’t know if the other man, whom he referred to as “Squid,” was still in the building.

Shortly after police began talking with Cruz, “Squid,” identified as Harley Arlington Kulp, 27, came out of the store. Cruz, who found a way out of the store attic then also surrendered to police.

Police found in the store: An ATM that was smashed and broken open; multiple items of merchandise including fishing lures strewn on the floor; the cash register drawer missing and a crowbar laying on the floor behind the counter. Kulp had nearly $4,000 in cash in the front pockets of his pants.

According to statements from Cruz and Kulp, the group had driven from Wisconsin to find and steal an ATM. They found a spot along the Root River where they would take an ATM to break it open, take the cash and dump the ATM. Instead, when the group entered the River Station, they found the ATM bolted to the floor. They tried to open the ATM with an ice chipper tool, but the tool kept bending.

Instead, the group took the cash drawer and merchandise including fishing lures which Cruz said “go like hot cakes.” The group then met along the Root River where Cruz decided their haul was “unacceptable” and the three returned to the store where Cruz and Kulp used a crowbar to open the ATM. The two were in the store when police arrived on the scene.

All three each face four felony charges of second-degree burglary, possession of burglar tools, receiving stolen property and theft. They’re also charged with gross misdemeanor intentional damage to property.

Kulp has an initial appearance on the charges scheduled for June 7. Cruz and Goyette are scheduled for omnibus hearings June 26.