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On December 1, 2007, Sergeant David Jefson of the Viroqua Police Department was dispatched to Mary’s Quik Stop located at 726 N. Main Street, Viroqua, Wisconsin for an armed robbery.
Upon arrival, Sgt. Jefson met with employee Lisa Strasser who was very distraught and indicated that she had been robbed. Ms. Strasser indicated that the male subject had left out the exit door at which time Sgt. Jefson went outside and followed the footprints around the south side of the building.
The tracks continued north along the rear of Mary’s Quik Stop, and Sgt. Jefson noted $1.00 bills that had been dropped as the subject fled the store. Sgt. Jefson continued to follow the tracks and the footprints continued out the quick Stop parking lot and went behind Delap Oil and Gas where the footprints stopped and Sgt. Jefson observed tire impressions where a vehicle had been parked. Sgt. Jefson noted the vehicle left the Delap parking lot heading east toward Main Street.
St. Jefson returned and spoke to Ms. Strasser and Ms. Strasser indicated that she was standing behind the counter getting ready to start cleaning up when she heard the door open and an individual came to the counter area. She stated that the male subject had then stated to her, “Put the money in the bag or I will shoot you.” Ms. Strasser indicated that she could see that the male subject’s finger was on the trigger of the gun. The male subject carried with him a small black bag that he laid on the counter and Ms. Strasser then opened the cash register and handed him the money.
Upon asking Ms. Strasser to describe the male subject, she noted that he was 5’6” to 5;8” tall, and she believed that he may be stocky or heavier based on his cheeks. She noted that the male subject was wearing a tan or brown Carhart type coat and was also wearing a lighter blue colored hooded sweatshirt with the hood up over his head. He also wore a black bandana covering his nose and mouth areas.
On January 28, 2008, Assistant Chief Daron Jefson received a Crime Stoppers tip that implicated two male subject in the Mary’s Quik Stop burglary, Gregory Fair and Casey Alm. Through the tip, Assistant Chief Jefson learned that the truck that they drove during the armed robbery of Mary’s Quik Stop belonged to Billy Joe Arnold of Cashton.
After receiving this information, Assistant Chief Jefson put together a photo line up to show Don Lee who had been in the Mary’s Quik Stop parking lot shoveling snow the night of the armed robbery. Upon reviewing the photo line up, Mr. Lee picked out Casey Alm as walking past him on the night of the armed robbery while Mr. Lee was shoveling snow. It should be noted that Ms. Strasser was unable to identify Casey Alm as the male subject that robbed the store had his face covered by a bandana and a hooded sweatshirt.
On February 2, 2008, Chief Mark Rahr and Assistant Chief Jefson met with Billy Joe Arnold at the Cashton Police Department. During that conversation, Arnold stated that he had purchased a hand gun from Casey Alm and after he learned that the hand gun was stolen, Arnold turned the gun into the Cashton Village Hall. Arnold also indicated that the end of November, Gregory Fair was in possession of his truck as Mr. Fair was fixing the brakes. Arnold also informed law enforcement that he had purchased new Goodyear tires for the truck in October, 2007. Law enforcement then followed Arnold to his residence and upon looking at the truck and tires, the tires matched the impression that had been left at the scene of the armed robbery at Mary’s Quik Stop.
On February 2, 2008, investigator David Mattice and Assistant Chief Jefson proceeded to the Fair residence and requested Mr. Fair accompany them to the Cashton Village Hall. Upon arrival at the Cashton Village Hall, law enforcement spoke with Fair for about an hour and a half. Initially, Fair stated that he had no knowledge of the Mary’s Quik Stop robbery and even claimed to have an alibi for that night, however law enforcement never informed Fair of the date in question. After speaking to Fair for some time, Fair became upset and appeared to begin crying and further made a statement to the effect, “I’m Fxxxxx.” Fair then admitted that on the date in question, both he and Casey Alm had gone to Viroqua in Arnold’s truck looking to steal aluminum cans for money. After being unable to locate any cans to steal, Fair stated that Alm come up with the idea to do a house burglary or rob a gas station.
Fair stated that he tried talking Alm out of doing a robbery. Fair then described that as he pulled up to a stop sign, Alm jumped out of the truck and began going towards Mary’s Quik Stop.
Fair stated he then drove several blocks before getting into Mary’s Quik Stop parking lot at which time he saw Alm near the end of the building. He stated he pulled up to Alm and tried talking Alm out of the robbery, but Alm went into Mary’s Quik Stop. At this time, Fair stated that he went to the rear of Delap’s Oil and Gas and parked the truck. Fair also noted that he was familiar with this area as he had gotten tires from Delap’s last summer. Fair indicated that he waited a short time when Alm came back to the truck and they fled the area. Fair admitted that Alm had given him $50.00 and that he knew it was from the money that was stolen form the gas station.
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