Three more charged in apartment incident

Three more Brainerd men have been charged in connection with an assault and property damage at a Walnut Street apartment last month.

Joseph Bahma, 20, Jeremy Meyer, 20, and Scott Reynolds, 22, were each charged in Crow Wing County District Court Monday with first-degree burglary and second-degree rioting for their part in a March 27 incident. A baseball bat was used to smash windows to get at a person who was believed to be in the apartment.

The next court date for Bahma, Meyer and Reynolds is 8 a.m. April 25.

Three other men, Daniel Thurstin, 20, Andrew Weiland, 22, and Jacob Weiland, 19, were charged March 29 in Crow Wing County District Court.

Thurstin and Andrew Weiland were charged with first-degree burglary, second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, first-degree criminal damage to property and second-degree rioting.

Jacob Weiland was charged with first-degree burglary and second-degree rioting.

At 6:46 p.m. March 27, Brainerd police officers received a call from Robert Epps, who was at the Walnut Street apartment. He said a group of white people were looking for a fight, the criminal complaints state.

Thurstin, Andrew Weiland and Jacob Weiland, using a baseball bat, broke the windows of the apartment, and used a crow bar to try to pry open the door, the criminal complaint said. All three were arrested at the apartment as they tried to leave.

A short distance away, a Brainerd police officer made contact with Reynolds and Meyer, who were identified as being outside the apartment Epps was in, and those two in turn led police to Bahma, whose car was found on the street next to the apartment complex.

Epps, who is black, told police Andrew Weiland struck him on the head and hand with the bat, the criminal complaint said, and at that time he also heard racial epitaphs yelled at him by the group.

After striking him, Epps told police officers Weiland then said, "Yeah, that's him, get him," the criminal complaint stated.

Andrew Weiland, Jacob Weiland and Daniel Thurstin told police they went to the Walnut Street apartment to confront two black males, known only as Tony and Rico, who had beaten up Jacob Weiland several days earlier, the criminal complaint said.