One of three accused assailants in a Lake Elmo home invasion last fall has pleaded guilty and been sentenced to 67 months in prison.

Roger Lee Trice, 30, of St. Paul, had admitted to police that he had bought a gun that was fired by one of the other assailants in the house Nov. 19. The shot grazed a man who lived there.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Washington County Court, Trice waited outside a duplex on Lake Elmo Avenue N. until two accomplices emerged carrying a purse belonging to one of the duplex's occupants.

The masked men, dressed in black, demanded money and drugs and dumped gasoline on two residents, the complaint said. One occupant, Richard Jacobson, told police he was pistol-whipped and believed a bullet grazed him in the head.

Authorities have said the invasion wasn't random. Search warrants show that detectives found drug paraphernalia at the residence, including a pipe and baggies that tested positive for methamphetamine.

Before his guilty plea in this case, Trice had seven gross misdemeanor and felony convictions for offenses including drug possession, assault, burglary and weapons violations. Judge Mary Hannon handed out the prison sentence for aiding and abetting a burglary and first-degree possession of a dangerous weapon.

Richard Paul Delrio and Richard David Koepke also are charged in the incident and are awaiting trial.

KEVIN GILES