A 39-year-old St. Augusta man accused of pulling a gun on a Midwest Bank employee in Detroit Lakes and then vanishing into the woods behind the parking lot is now sitting in the Becker County Jail, more than two months after investigators tracked his car and cellphone across three states. Jose Gregorio Boller Pena is due in Becker County District Court at 11 a.m. Monday for his first court appearance on felony charges tied to the June 12 attack.
The assault happened around 12:19 p.m. at the Midwest Bank branch at 613 Highway 10 East, according to Valley News Live. A bank employee was sitting in her parked car during her lunch break when a masked man approached her vehicle door, covered her mouth and pointed a handgun at her, gesturing for her to move into the passenger seat, the outlet reported. A co-worker heard her screaming, and the man fled on foot into the dense woods bordering the Pelican River behind the lot.
Detroit Lakes Deputy Police Chief Robert Strand confirmed during the initial emergency response that officers quickly identified a vehicle of interest and verified that the bank employee had escaped physical injury, according to WDAY Radio. That branch sits bordered directly by wooded terrain leading toward the river, per Midwest Bank, a layout that gave the attacker an immediate escape route once the victim screamed.
A Helicopter and Drones Swept the Woods
Investigators believe Boller Pena had cashed a paycheck at the same Midwest Bank earlier that morning, and had recently worked at a local dairy farm, before the attack unfolded hours later. Immediately after the incident, law enforcement deployed a Minnesota State Patrol helicopter and unmanned aerial drones to search the heavily wooded area behind the bank, illustrating just how intensely agencies moved to find the man who had disappeared into the timber along the Pelican River.
The manhunt in the woods turned up nothing that day, but investigators had another tool working in the background. Automated license plate reader cameras logged a gray 2011 Mazda 3 entering Detroit Lakes at 10:13 a.m. and leaving the city at 12:20 p.m. on June 12 — just one minute after the assault was reported. The Becker County Sheriff's Office contracts with surveillance company Flock Safety to run that ALPR network across Detroit Lakes and surrounding county routes, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Tracked Through Kansas Into Texas
Using that vehicle data alongside cellphone tracking, investigators followed Boller Pena's car south through Kansas and into Texas. Homeland Security Investigations officials and Houston-area law enforcement detained him in Texas on June 24, about two weeks after the attack, per the same account. A criminal complaint against him had been filed on June 30, charging him with felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and felony threats of violence.
While being questioned in Texas about evidence recovered from his vehicle, Boller Pena denied owning a backpack found inside that contained a knife, duct tape, dark clothing, a full face mask and black gloves with gray rubber palms — items the outlet reports were consistent with the victim's description of her attacker. He did acknowledge using the face mask, but claimed it was because, in his words, “it was cold in Minnesota.”
Held Under ICE Detainer Before Extradition
Boller Pena was held on a federal ICE detainer while in Texas custody, according to the Perham Focus, which also confirmed he lives in rural St. Augusta, a town in Stearns County roughly 130 miles southeast of Detroit Lakes. Jail records show he was formally booked into the Becker County Jail on August 14 following his transfer from federal and Texas custody, according to TRF News.
Under Minnesota Statute § 609.222, a conviction for second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon carries a maximum of seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine, regardless of whether the victim suffered bodily harm, according to the Minnesota Revisor's Office. The separate felony threats-of-violence charge, under Minnesota Statute § 609.713, carries a maximum sentence of up to five years and a $10,000 fine, covering threats made with intent to terrorize or in reckless disregard of causing terror.
Boller Pena is now in Becker County custody ahead of Monday's hearing, where he is expected to face the district court for the first time since the June assault. The case marks the latest violent crime to work its way through Becker County District Court this year, following other high-profile local prosecutions covered by Hoodline.
