Man accused of attacking woman in Midwest Bank parking lot at gunpoint

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — A Minnesota man now being held by ICE in Texas is accused of pulling a gun on a woman in a bank parking lot in Detroit Lakes on June 12.

Jose Gregorio Boller Pena, 39, of rural St. Augusta, has been charged in Becker County District Court with felony second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and felony threats of violence.

According to court records, shortly after noon on Friday, June 12, Boller Pena is accused of surprising a woman in her car on her lunch break in the back of the Midwest Bank parking lot.

The woman told a Detroit Lakes police officer that she had been sitting and scrolling through her phone. She heard rustling coming from the woods behind her vehicle and then saw someone standing at her car door. She added that the masked man pulled her car door open further.

She began screaming, and the man covered her mouth with his left hand. She looked down and saw that the man was holding a handgun pointed at her with his right hand, near his waist level, according to court records.

The man took her cellphone from her hand and threw it in the backseat. The man was speaking, but the woman could not understand what he was saying. He was gesturing for her to move over to the front passenger seat. She continued to scream, and a bank employee came out on lunch break and heard her, according to court records.

The suspect then fled southwest into the woods that border the Pelican River. The bank employee immediately went back inside and called 911, according to the criminal complaint.

When a police officer arrived on scene and met with the woman, she was visibly upset and crying. The woman said the attacker had been wearing all black clothes, a black “ski-mask thing,” and black or gray work gloves with rubber grips. She said the mask was over the man’s head and that he was also wearing sunglasses, that the gun was held in the man’s right hand and was pointed at her, and that the man had something similar to a duffel bag with him.

According to the criminal complaint, dispatch notified officers that the manager of Pelican River Apartments near the bank had reported a suspicious vehicle in their parking lot shortly before the time of the assault.

Video surveillance confirmed that a gray 2011 Mazda 3 sedan was in the northwest corner of the apartment lot, according to the complaint. In the video, a shadowy figure can be seen walking from the Mazda into the woods at about 11:20 a.m., according to the complaint. The Mazda is then seen leaving the parking lot at approximately 12:16 p.m.

The Mazda was found in Detroit Lakes through the Flock license plate reading camera system, and the Mazda plate number was noted on the day of the attack. The car drove into Detroit Lakes on Highway 10 East at approximately 10:13 a.m. and left town the same way at 12:20 p.m., according to court records.

Police next discovered that the Mazda had been at the Detroit Lakes Walmart on May 15, May 31 and June 5. Surveillance footage of the car and driver was compared to a photograph of the registered owner of the Mazda. It was later discovered that the car’s owner had been deported from the United States in May.

A Detroit Lakes police investigator then reviewed the owner’s known associates and noted that one worked on a large local dairy farm.

The owner of the dairy farm, identified in court documents as “C.S.,” told the investigator that one of his employees, a “Jose Boller” (later identified as Boller Pena) had recently quit work on June 10, two days before the attack.

The dairy farm owner told police that Boller Pena was from Venezuela and had a sick child back home, and that he said he was going back home to Venezuela to be with his family. He had said he would stay and work until June 14, but had left before that.

The dairy farm owner provided a police investigator with photos, a phone number and other details, according to the criminal complaint. Investigators discovered that same phone had been used to contact a local licensed gun broker, who happens to be married to a Detroit Lakes police officer.

The firearms dealer had received text messages on June 5 from Boller Pena’s phone number indicating that the individual wished to purchase a firearm, according to the criminal complaint. The broker advised the individual of the legal requirements for purchasing a firearm, and the individual responded specifically with “Ok, I don’t think I can process it, I’m from Mexico.” The individual then ceased texting.

Also on June 5, that police officer had come home, noticed an unfamiliar car parked in front of the residence, and taken photos of the vehicle and license plate, which turned out to be Boller Pena’s Mazda 3, according to court records.

On June 18, the dairy farm owner provided police with a copy of Boller Pena’s last paycheck from June 12. Employees at the dairy farm are normally paid on Fridays, and he said Boller Pena had essentially one and a half paychecks that were due to him.

The paycheck was cashed at Midwest Bank on June 12 at 10:22 a.m., and bank surveillance footage from that day showed a man believed to be Boller Pena entering the parking lot and proceeding to the southern portion of the parking lot, according to the complaint. He then entered the bank, approached a teller, and cashed his check from the dairy farm. His clothing was consistent with the dark clothing described by the woman during the time of the assault. He then left the bank and drove off.

Additional information from the Flock system showed the Mazda traveling through Wichita, Kansas, at approximately 6:41 a.m. on June 13, the morning after the assault. The vehicle was next spotted on the Flock system in Waxahachie, Texas, at 7:18 p.m. on June 13, according to court records.

On June 19, a Detroit Lakes police investigator was granted a GPS search warrant to track the locations of Boller Pena’s cellphone number. That same evening, the phone displayed locations in the Houston, Texas, area.

Detroit Lakes police officers conducted a surveillance operation with Homeland Security Investigation officials and confirmed Boller Pena’s location in Houston.

On June 24, Boller Pena was detained by Homeland Security Investigation officials and Houston police. Officers discovered a backpack in his vehicle containing dark clothing, including a dark top with a full face mask. Officers also found miscellaneous tools, a knife, duct tape, a condom, and a pair of gloves — black with gray rubber palms — in the backpack, consistent with what was previously described by the woman.

In an interview with police, Boller Pena acknowledged that he was previously in Minnesota and working at a farm, and that he drove to Houston “a few days ago” to find “better work.” He acknowledged he was driving the Mazda 3 while in Minnesota and drove the vehicle to Houston. He said he got rid of the car a day or two after arriving in Houston. He also admitted that the cellphone number being investigated by Detroit Lakes police is his number. He denied that the backpack found in the vehicle was his, but acknowledged that the black top with the facemask was his, and stated he had it in Minnesota because it was “cold out.”

Based on information provided by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Boller Pena is subject to a final order for removal and is in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security in Texas.