Leeper gets another prison sentence

Published 10:45 am Friday, May 20, 2016

A man who fled a courtroom and went on a crime spree in 2015 — along with several other crime cases — received another prison sentence Thursday.

Dylan Leeper

Dylan Leeper

Dylan Arthur Leeper, 22, of Austin was sentenced to two additional years in prison in Mower County court for fleeing a court room on Sept. 4, 2015, during another court appearance

However, the two years, along with credit for 258 days already served, will be served concurrently with the 13 years in prison he’s already serving on other charges.

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Leeper was in court on Sept. 4 for four cases before he managed to slip a hand out of his handcuffs and bolted through the building, knocking down a woman during his escape. Mower County deputies and Austin J. Swisher of Rochester’s Swisher Law Firm pursued Leeper and caught up to him in the parking lot south of the jail where he was apprehended.

On Jan 15, Leeper changed his plea to guilty in another case on two charges of aggravated robbery, and five other charges were dismissed. He was sentenced with 13 years in prison for both charges, with credit for 63 days, and a fine of $715 in restitution.

In a separate case, Leeper pleaded guilty Oct. 9, 2015, to one count of aggravated robbery with a dangerous weapon, and a second charge was dismissed, in a case where he beat up a pizza driver to steal his money.

He was sentenced with just over eight years in prison with credit for 166 days, to be served at the same time as the robbery charges, and a fine of $5,086.48.

In a another case, Leeper pleaded guilty Oct. 9, 2015, to a charge of theft, and two other charges were dismissed — a case where he stole a vehicle and got in a crash with another vehicle. He was sentenced to two years in prison with credit for 194 days to be served at the same time as the robbery charges and the pizza driver case, and a fine of $1,200.

Leeper, who had been previously charged in several prior incidents, was released from jail Nov. 12, 2015, after posting $100,000 bond before being arrested that night on suspicion of the shoplifting incident and the robberies at Reed’s Fourth Ave. and Hari Food Mart, which were allegedly committed with a black handgun.

Leeper was charged Nov. 13 in Mower County court with two counts of felony aggravated robbery, three counts of felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, one count of felony fifth-degree assault and one count of misdemeanor theft, to which he pleaded not guilty to all.

According to the court complaint, Leeper shoplifted from Walmart during two different trips Thursday, robbed Reed’s Fourth Ave., 901 Fourth Ave. NE, at gunpoint and assaulted the clerk, and robbed Hari Food Mart Shell gas, 709 21st St. NE, at gunpoint. He was arrested an hour later at the 1009 W. Oakland Ave. McDonald’s.