Red Wing man pleads guilty in Walmart robbery

A Red Wing man will spend one year in Goodhue County Jail for his involvement in the robbery of Walmart, 295 S. Tyler Road, last April.

Dylan Timothy Hanson, 20, 725 Bluff St., pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree aggravated robbery in July.

On Friday, Minnesota First District Judge Kevin Mark handed down a stayed four-year prison sentence. If Hanson completes the conditions of his 20-year probation, he will not serve time in prison. The one-year jail sentence is one of his probation conditions; he will receive credit for 146 days already served.

According to a court complaint filed April 23, Hanson served as a lookout as another man, Matthew Warren Schmidt, 20, no permanent address, allegedly used a BB gun to rob a cashier April 22. A third man, Andrue David Landmark, 22, 280 Motel Ave., also allegedly served as a lookout.

After the robbery, Landmark and Schmidt fled the scene in a red pickup, leading officers on an 89-90-mile-per-hour pursuit along County Road 1, the complaint said. They abandoned the pickup in a field and hid in a tree grove for about 2.5 hours, the complaint says, before being arrested. Hanson was apprehended after a traffic stop that morning.

Officers found about $200 in one-dollar bills in a backpack that also contained Schmidt’s driver’s license.

In court Friday, Hanson took the stand before Judge Kevin Mark sentenced him, stating that he only agreed to be involved in the robbery because he wanted to be accepted by Schmidt and Landmark, who he said where his only friends at the time.

“I was worried what they’d think of me,” Hanson said. “When I met Matt (Schmidt), I was accepted. I didn’t want to lose that.”

He also stated that he did not know that Schmidt was going to use a gun during the robbery.

Assistant Goodhue County Attorney Chris Schrader asked the court that Hanson serve time in prison, stating that aggravated robbery is a severe offense. Not sentencing Hanson to prison, Schrader said, would send the wrong message about how violent crime is punished.

“The young man working his shift at Walmart had a gun stuck in his neck,” Schrader said. “These types of offenses have a real impact on public safety and the public’s sense of safety.”

But defense attorney John Gavin stated that Hanson should not get prison time, adding that Hanson has no prior criminal record. In addition, Gavin motioned to the dozen members of Hanson’s family members who were in the courtroom.

“I have rarely seen a family come out the way this family has,” he said. “My client has the proper support that is going to get him through probation.”

Before Mark read the sentence, he told Hanson that with the one-year jail sentence, he was trying to balance the severity of the crime with the fact that Hanson had no prior criminal history and he has the potential to turn his life around.

“Sending you to prison signifies that I’ve given up on you,” Mark said. “I’m always inclined to give people a second chance to prove themselves. I’m going to give you that chance.”

Landmark pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree aggravated robbery Sept. 10. He will be sentenced Nov. 30. Schmidt has pleaded not guilty to a similar charge. A jury trial has been scheduled to begin Oct. 15.

Tags: crime and courts, red wing, crime, news