Oklahoma Man Pleads Guilty to Kidnapping Women Also Admits Illegal Use of Firearm and Robbery Charges

An Oklahoma man pled guilty on June 16, 2011, to Kidnapping (two counts), Carrying and Use of a Firearm During a Crime of Violence, and Interference with Commerce by Robbery, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Carey L. Breshers, Jr., 51, of Oklahoma, is scheduled for sentencing on October 14, 2011. Each of the Kidnapping counts carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and five years’ supervised release. Use of a Firearm During a Crime of Violence carries a sentence of not less than seven years’ imprisonment up to life imprisonment, the sentence to run consecutively to the sentences imposed on the Kidnapping counts, a $250,000 fine, and five years’ supervised release. Interference with Commerce by Robbery carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and up to three years’ supervised release.

According to court documents, on October 26, 2010, at around 10:00 a.m., Breshers walked into World Finance in O’Fallon, Illinois, and held two female employees at gunpoint while questioning them about their personal checking accounts, finances, and vehicles, as well as the location of the bank for the business. He eventually directed one of the employees to write a company check for $3000. Breshers directed the women to leave their cell phones, lock the business, and come with him. He directed one of the employees to drive her car and directed the other to get in the backseat with him.

Breshers directed the women to attempt to cash the check at the O’Fallon branch of Regions Bank. After two unsuccessful attempts to cash the check, Breshers directed the women back to World Finance where he took $1,104 from the business. Breshers then directed the employees to drive him to St. Louis. During the drive, Breshers removed the firearm from his pocket and fiddled with it. He told the women that he had committed a similar crime in Oklahoma, and that he had safely released the victim in that situation. Breshers directed them to take the exit at I-44 and Jefferson and to drive around the back of an abandoned building where he released them. He left in the employee’s car which was later found at a Metro Link station in Missouri. Breshers was arrested on October 31, 2010, in Topeka, Kansas, in an unrelated incident, and found to be in possession of the firearm. He has been in custody since his arrest.

Information for the Indictment was obtained by the O’Fallon Police Department, the FBI, and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. The case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Kit Morrissey.