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WALKER - On Tuesday, Oct. 1, a Cass County Jury convicted DAvid Arthur Larose, 27, of Cass Lake, Minn., on eight felony charges for his part in crimes against two victims Oct. 27 and 28, 2011.

Larose was convicted of two offenses involving the first victim: theft of a motor vehicle and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, occurring in Cass Lake, Oct. 27. In addition, Larose was convicted of six offenses involving the second victim: burglary in the first degree of an occupied dwelling, burglary in the first degree while possessing a dangerous weapon, burglary in the first degree with an assault on a person in the building, kidnapping to facilitate felony or flight, false imprisonment-intentional restraint, and arson in the third degree, all at a Federal Dam, Minn., residence on Oct. 28, 2011.

The jury found Larose and two accomplices stole a van in Cass Lake. They drove the stolen van to the home of an elderly widow in Federal Dam. The three men broke into the home in the middle of the night while the woman was sleeping. They held the woman at gunpoint and moved her about in the home so they could ransack the house and steal her belongings. At one point they tied the woman up under the stairs. The armed intruders stole many of the woman's possessions and disabled her phones. The stolen van had been backed up close to the house, and the woman's belongings were loaded into it. The intruders apparently were not able to start the van, so they set that vehicle on fire and escaped in another vehicle or vehicles, leaving the elderly woman behind without a phone to call for help. The woman fought the blaze on her own until a passerby called 911 and help arrived, but not before there was smoke damage to the home.

Larose's two accomplices previously pled guilty. Accomplice Gordon Lee Dunn aka "DeeDee Harrison," age 35, pled guilty on March 20, 2013, and was subsequently sentenced to serve 126 months in prison. Accomplice David Joseph aka "DJ' Staples, 34, pled guilty on Oct. 3rd, and is awaiting sentencing.

Larose's sentencing is scheduled at 1 p.m., on Monday, Nov. 18, 2013, in Cass County District Court.

The Cass County Sheriff's Office investigated the case and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension conducted fingerprint and DNA analysis of the evidence.[[In-content Ad]]

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