Freeman’s hit again; suspect caught

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On the same day another man was sentenced for robbing the same store, a River Falls man was arrested for allegedly burglarizing Freeman Drug, 104 S. Main St., earlier this week.

Thomas G. Weidell, 36, 520 W. Elm St., was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon in River Falls and taken to Pierce County Jail in Ellsworth.

Weidell is suspected of breaking in to the Main Street drugstore and stealing a small amount of prescription painkiller.

Police Chief Roger Leque said officers were dispatched at 11:28 p.m. Monday after an alarm was activated.

Police arrived at the store to find a shattered window in a back door and the door ajar. No one was inside.

Leque said a preliminary investigation showed two bottles of Vicodin were missing. He said Tuesday afternoon that it was still too early to tell if anything else was missing.

Through their investigation, officers identified a suspect and took him into custody, said Leque.

“We have recovered what we believe is some of the stolen property,” he said,

On Monday Pierce County Circuit Court Judge Robert Wing sentenced Rick Anderson-Kieffer, 48, to five years in prison followed by five years extended supervision for robbing Freeman Drug twice last fall.

In May Anderson-Kieffer pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery with the threat of force twice in nine days last October.

See A10 for the sentencing story of the Freeman Drug robber.

Tags: riverfalls, freeman, news, robbery, weidell