By Vicky Wedig
SLN Staff
The second of four men charged with robbing a Town of East Troy apartment in 2014 and shooting a woman inside was sentenced to prison.
A jury found Jeremy L. Thomas, 29, guilty May 25 of armed robbery, first-degree reckless injury, false imprisonment and substantial battery, all as a party to a crime.
He was sentenced Sept. 6 to eight years in prison and seven years extended supervision on the robbery charge; five years in prison and three years extended supervision on the reckless injury charge; two years in prison and one year extended supervision on the false imprisonment charge; and 1-1/2 years in prison and one year extended supervision on the battery charges. All of the sentences are to run concurrently.
Thomas is the second of four men to be sentenced to prison in connection with an October 2014 robbery in which a woman was shot and a man beaten in an apartment at Barley’s Hops and Malt in the Town of Troy.
Drevon A. Grant, 21, of Milwaukee, pleaded guilty to armed robbery and was sentenced in December 2015 to 15 years in prison and seven years extended supervision. Charges of first-degree reckless injury, substantial battery and false imprisonment against him were dismissed.
Charges of armed robbery, first-degree reckless injury, substantial battery and false imprisonment are pending against Michael Kraft, 36, of Glendale, and Jacob A. Curler, 36, of East Troy.
A status conference is scheduled for Dec. 21 in Kraft’s case. Kraft was expected to testify against Thomas and Curler and reach a plea agreement with the district attorney’s office.
Curler is scheduled for a final pre-trial conference Nov. 30 and a five-day jury trial beginning Dec. 11.
According to the criminal complaints, three men entered an apartment at Barley’s Hops and Malt in the Town of Troy on Oct. 20, 2014, and injured the residents.
A detective spoke with one of the residents, Afrim Lika, at the hospital. Lika was bruised and required several stitches to close a cut above his eye and a cut on his head behind his right ear, according to the complaint.
Lika told the detective he went to bed around 10:30 p.m. or 10:45 p.m. and was in his bedroom when two men allegedly entered the room with guns.
Lika said he kicked the skinny robber in the arm and fought with him and then the second man. He said the skinnier man told the other man to tie up Lika’s wife, Altije Fejza, and Lika fought with both men, according to the complaint.
Lika said as he fought with the three men, Fejza helped to stop the men from hitting Lika, and one of the men shot her in the leg, according to the complaint. A bullet entered Fejza’s thigh and exited her right calf, according to the complaint.
Grant allegedly told an informant that he shot Altije Fejza, and the informant identified Grant in a photo lineup. Grant admitted participating in the robbery and said he saw the other robbers fight with Lika and saw one of the other robbers shoot Fejza, according to the complaint.
Grant told police one of the other robbers was known as “White Boy Mike,” who was later identified as Kraft. When Kraft was arrested, he told a detective he was “probably going away for a long time for this,” according to the criminal complaint. During an interview with the detective, Kraft allegedly acknowledged Curler was one of the robbers and said Curler anticipated getting $30,000 to $50,000 from the robbery.
