Man pleads no contest to Edwardsburg robbery

Published 5:55 pm Friday, October 7, 2016

An Edwardsburg armed robbery case that has gone unresolved for nearly a decade has drawn one stop closer to a conclusion.
Trevin Deshon Safford, 29, of Milwaukee, pleaded no contest to four counts related to a 2006 robbery of a Family Dollar store just outside the village during an appearance in court Thursday. Safford pleaded to counts of conspiracy to commit safe breaking, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, safe breaking and armed robbery.
Safford’s plea came less than a week before he was to appear before Judge Michael Dodge for a jury trial for the crime. The case had already gone before a jury on June 21, though the panel in that case was dismissed after its members could not reach a decision following several hours of deliberation, said Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz.
“My office is pleased with the resolution of this very serious matter,” Fitz said. “With this plea, this cold case is nearing its proper conclusion.”
Safford was arrested in connection with the 2006 case last June, where, on top of the four counts he pleaded to Thursday, he was charged with unlawful imprisonment, carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent and six counts of felony firearms.
Per a sentencing agreement with the prosecutor’s office, the last eight charges against the Milwaukee man will be dropped. The prosecution will recommend Safford serve a minimum of five years in prison for the crime, Fitz said.
The robbery took place on Dec. 18, 2006, at the former Family Dollar store, where the Edwardsburg Fitness Co. now occupies. Edwardsburg police believe that Safford and an accomplice entered the store around closing time, tying up the two female employees working at the time with shoelaces before demanding that one of them open the store’s safe, with the pair stealing more than $1,000 before leaving.
Although authorities were able to identify strands of DNA from one of the suspected perpetrators on the shoelaces used in the incident, they were unable to match the strands to anyone in the police database until 2013, after Safford was arrested in connection with an armed robbery in his home state of Wisconsin, said Edwardsburg Police Chief Timothy Kozal.
Following the match, the department continued their investigation into the case, finding evidence that connected Safford to several other Family Dollar robberies around the same time as the Edwardsburg one occurred as well as evidence that linked him to the area shortly before the theft, Kozal said. Based off this new evidence, the prosecutor’s office authorized charges against the man last summer.
“The biggest thing is that we are getting a sense of closure, for the department and for the two victims in this case,” Kozal said, following Thursday’s hearing. “One of the victims said she relives what happened that night every year, so this decision will be good for them.”
The other suspect in the case still remains at large, Kozal said.
Safford is scheduled to appear before Judge Dodge on Friday, Dec. 9, for sentencing.