Victims Ducktaped in Home on May 17
After being held up at gunpoint and duct-taped in their own home, the victims say they're looking to move.
Charles O'Brien says he thinks they were targeted because the robbers knew he works on electronics and keeps lots of them in his home. Now he and his fiancé say it's hard to feel safe in that home.
O'Brien fills his day working on websites and computers, but on Thursday nights he also DJ's at a Neillsville bar. When he came home early last Friday morning, he was met at his door.
"The guy had a shotgun in my face and told me to get in here," O’Brien says.
O'Brien ended up bound with duct tape on the floor of his living room. His fiancé, who was right behind him, managed to hide in the shadows, then run to the neighbors to call 911; neither had any idea his fiancé's daughter was already duct-taped in the bathroom.
"I came down stairs and the dude with the ski mask was in my mother's bedroom with the gun pointed at me. I screamed and he told me 'hush and don't move,'" says Ashley Poppe.
Poppe says her arms were taped so tightly she lost feeling her hands. She says she focused more on listening to the robbers than on letting the fear creep in.
"I felt horrible because I wasn't there to help her," says Brandy Jablonsky, Poppe’s older sister.
Jablonsky says she was asleep upstairs with her four small children right up until the police pounded on the door. Officers ended up arresting Justin Farmer of Fairchild. They also charged his accomplice Desiree Johnson of Fairchild who Poppe says stopped by earlier supposedly looking for O’Brien. Now, they're all just thankful no one was hurt.
“It was a loaded shot gun. That was the worst part because I didn't know if he was going to use it or not. If I would've lied to him about something, I didn't know if next thing you know there goes my arm," O'Brien says.
"If you just want to scare somebody, you don't load (your gun) because you don't want to hurt anybody. If it's loaded, you don't care if you hurt somebody,” Jablonsky says.
Court documents show Farmer told investigators he paid O’Brien to fix his TV and it never got fixed so he wanted to get back at him. But, O’Brien says he never did any business with Farmer, just worked with his brother once.
Farmer and Johnson both face multiple felonies and remain in the Clark County jail
Charles O'Brien says he thinks they were targeted because the robbers knew he works on electronics and keeps lots of them in his home. Now he and his fiancé say it's hard to feel safe in that home.
O'Brien fills his day working on websites and computers, but on Thursday nights he also DJ's at a Neillsville bar. When he came home early last Friday morning, he was met at his door.
"The guy had a shotgun in my face and told me to get in here," O’Brien says.
O'Brien ended up bound with duct tape on the floor of his living room. His fiancé, who was right behind him, managed to hide in the shadows, then run to the neighbors to call 911; neither had any idea his fiancé's daughter was already duct-taped in the bathroom.
"I came down stairs and the dude with the ski mask was in my mother's bedroom with the gun pointed at me. I screamed and he told me 'hush and don't move,'" says Ashley Poppe.
Poppe says her arms were taped so tightly she lost feeling her hands. She says she focused more on listening to the robbers than on letting the fear creep in.
"I felt horrible because I wasn't there to help her," says Brandy Jablonsky, Poppe’s older sister.
Jablonsky says she was asleep upstairs with her four small children right up until the police pounded on the door. Officers ended up arresting Justin Farmer of Fairchild. They also charged his accomplice Desiree Johnson of Fairchild who Poppe says stopped by earlier supposedly looking for O’Brien. Now, they're all just thankful no one was hurt.
“It was a loaded shot gun. That was the worst part because I didn't know if he was going to use it or not. If I would've lied to him about something, I didn't know if next thing you know there goes my arm," O'Brien says.
"If you just want to scare somebody, you don't load (your gun) because you don't want to hurt anybody. If it's loaded, you don't care if you hurt somebody,” Jablonsky says.
Court documents show Farmer told investigators he paid O’Brien to fix his TV and it never got fixed so he wanted to get back at him. But, O’Brien says he never did any business with Farmer, just worked with his brother once.
Farmer and Johnson both face multiple felonies and remain in the Clark County jail
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