Charges have been filed against a 27-year-old man suspected of holding up a hotel in Northfield and then shooting at police on his trail.
Eric W. Forcier, of Farmington, and his ex-girlfriend, Julie Ann Campana, 23, of Apple Valley, were charged in federal court in St. Paul with interfering with commerce and use of a firearm during a violent crime in the robbery of the hotel. Forcier was also charged Monday with being a felon in possession of a firearm during the late-night stickup of the Americas Best Value Inn on Oct. 29.
According to the indictment, Forcier and Campana robbed the hotel of about $100 in cash, coins and three cordless phones. Campana is accused of being Forcier's getaway driver.
According to police:
A hotel clerk called police at 2:47 a.m. and said the hotel on Hwy. 3, south of downtown, had been robbed by a masked man with a handgun.
Police stopped Forcier's vehicle about 3 a.m. Forcier fled on foot from the car to nearby woods, allegedly firing several times at officers and missing.
After an eight-hour search, a police dog and an officer tracked Forcier to a trucking company plant. The officer checked parked vehicles and noticed a blanket moving in the back of a pickup truck. Drawing his gun, the officer ordered Forcier -- in wet clothes and bundled in a blanket with temperatures in the low 30s -- to climb out. Forcier had crossed the Cannon River after fleeing, police say.
He was arrested, as was Campana, who had been driving the car.
