Group breaks into the wrong house
2 charged; they wanted to rob Bay View drug dealer, complaint says
A group of men armed with a shotgun went to a house in Bay View to rob a drug dealer.
Instead, they broke into the wrong house, prosecutors say.
James Hayslett Jr., 20, of West Allis, and Jose Roche, 36, of Milwaukee, are charged with armed robbery as a party to the crime.
Four men broke into a house in the 3000 block of S. California St. shortly after 10 p.m. May 17. One of the robbers used the shotgun to hit a man inside the house, police said.
The man struggled with the intruder with the gun, and the weapon fired, authorities said. No one was hit by gunfire. The robbers got away with a guitar, cell phone, iPod, laptop and $40.
The next day, a Milwaukee police officer found the guitar, which had been sold to a pawn shop in West Allis.
Police determined Roche was the one who had sold it and the investigation also led them to Hayslett, according to a criminal complaint.
Both were arrested and told detectives the group had meant to rob a drug dealer and once they were inside the home, they realized they had the wrong residence, the complaint says.
Each claimed the other man had entered the house first with the gun, according to court records.
Hayslett told police after they left Bay View, they did another armed home invasion, the complaint says. Police found a report of a robbery that matched the description and that incident remains under investigation.
Roche and Hayslett remained in Milwaukee County Jail on Friday and are due back in court next month for possible plea hearings. No other arrests have been reported in the Bay View home invasion.