Wiegand's wife pleads 'no contest' to charge of helping in 2003 Wisconsin armed robbery

Updated: December 21, 2009 - 8:56 PM

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The wife of a man convicted in a two-state crime spree in 2003 pleaded no contest Monday to aiding and abetting his armed robbery of $238,000.

Debra Ann Wiegand, 29, of Hudson, Wis., entered the plea in St. Croix County Circuit Court. Pleading no contest in Wisconsin is the functional equivalent of pleading guilty.

Wiegand's attorney, Alex Andrea, asked for a sentence that would include a year in jail and probation, but Judge Eric Lundell ordered a pre-sentence investigation. Lundell said a date would be set for sentencing once the report is completed.

Wiegand's husband, Zachary, was sentenced in November to 26 1/2 years in prison for robbing two security guards in Hudson on May 29, 2003, and setting fire to the stolen getaway vehicle. Three other felony counts were dropped. He had also been convicted in Washington County for the attempted murder of a Lake Elmo woman, while trying to steal her car, the night before the robbery.

Debra Wiegand still faces court action on a felony count of receiving stolen property worth more than $10,000. Lundell dismissed three other felony counts connected with the armed robbery.

Very little of the heisted money that Zachary Wiegand stole in the robbery was recovered, authorities have said. The criminal complaint filed against Debra Wiegand said she took time off from her job at Christian Community Home in Hudson to rent a safety deposit box. She made a series of deposits that totaled $104,393.04 in River Bank in Osceola, the complaint said.

KEVIN GILES