A Mapleview man who participated in an attempted burglary with his wife was sentenced Thursday in Mower County Court.

Joseph Henry Mallan, 28, was convicted of one count of possessing burglary tools, a felony. He is sentenced to five years’ supervised probation and must complete 40 hours of community service.

According to the court complaint, Joseph and his wife, April Mallan, were scouting a rural property in Red Rock Township on Jan. 5, and attempting to steal scrap metal.

An officer responded to a home on 235th Street in Red Rock Township for a report of someone trespassing. The homeowner said a Ford Explorer was on his property, according to the court complaint, and the officer told the homeowner to watch the vehicle until he arrived. The complaint states the owner watched two people run and get into a vehicle when he approached them and tried to corner them in his own vehicle with lights on. The Mallans allegedly put their Explorer in reverse to get away. The complaint says that Joseph then walked toward the homeowner’s vehicle with tire irons but pitched them into the ditch before a Mower County Sheriff’s deputy arrived.

April told the officer she and her husband were on “the back roads to look around,” according to the complaint; however, Joseph then told the officer the two were traveling back roads from Brownsdale to Lansing because they did not have driver’s licenses and that their Explorer “broke down.”

The homeowner noticed several things had been moved on his property and that someone had been inside a mobile home there and removed a wall and other items to possibly get to the copper wiring, according to the complaint. The officer also noticed that scrap metal and other items that had been moved all would have fit into the truck. The officer then arrested the Mallans.

April’s next hearing is set for May 4.