A man suspected of holding up an Annandale liquor store twice in July is serving time for another robbery in a string of them he’s accused of committing. But Wright County still intends to prosecute him for the Coady’s Liquors robberies, according to the prosecutor handling the case. James N. Dahlager, 26, is locked up in the Minnesota Correctional Facility at St. Cloud after a Hennepin County judge sentenced him to five years in prison Sept. 25. Dahlager pleaded guilty to first-degree armed robbery in the July 28 holdup of a market in Maple Plain, where he brandished a silver handgun and escaped with $350. Dahlager of Sacred Heart and his wife, Kelsey J. Schmidt, 19, of rural South Haven were arrested Aug. 14 in Plymouth in connection with 14 armed robberies in 10 Central Minnesota counties since early June. Dahlager faces several more charges in the other counties, including the Coady’s cases. A man carrying a silver handgun and wearing a baseball cap robbed the liquor store at Highway 55 and Excelsior Avenue the night of July 16 and again the night of July 25, taking undisclosed amounts of cash. Assistant Wright County attorney Mark Erickson said Dahlager has been charged with aggravated first-degree robbery in the July 16 holdup.
Through an oversight, the county attorney’s office hadn’t received a report on the second robbery, but Dahlager will be charged with that one as well, Erickson said. He plans to file a writ to bring Dahlager to Wright County for arraignment on the Coady’s charges and eventual trial or other resolution. Erickson said he expects the other counties will take the same action. Dahlager is also charged in Stearns, Meeker, McLeod and Kandiyohi counties, he said, and there may be others. Schmidt won’t be charged in the Coady’s robberies, Erickson said. "There’s no evidence linking her to any of the Annandale cases." She’s being held in the Stearns County Jail on five robbery charges, an official there said, including three from Stearns, one from McLeod County and one from Sibley County. Dahlager’s release date is Dec. 14, 2010, since prisoners normally spend a third of their sentence in community supervision, a Minnesota Department of Corrections spokesman said. The St. Cloud prison is a reception facility for men, and Dahlager could be moved elsewhere to serve the rest of his time, the spokesman said. The department has listed Dahlager as a Level 3 sex offender, and he has a history of sexual contact with a 3-year old and a 12-year-old, according to its web site.
