Aaron Powell

A witness tip led police to arrest three area teens allegedly involved in a burglary in Portage on Monday.

Portage police investigated a burglary Monday at a home on the 500 block of School Road. About $1,400 in items, including a Compaq laptop computer, a Kodak digital camera, a video camera, 13 DVD movies, jewelry, $75 in cash and five bottles of liquor, according to a criminal complaint.

Arrested were:

• Mackenzie J.A. Keipe, 18, of Portage, on a charge of felony burglary and misdemeanor theft. He remains in the Columbia County Jail on a $250 cash bail and is scheduled for a pretrial conference on the charges Dec. 19. Keipe is also charged with two counts of misdemeanor theft from two incidents in October. He is wanted in Green Lake County on charges of felony burglary, criminal damage to property and criminal trespassing.

• Aaron M. Powell, 18, of Portage, on a charge of felony burglary and misdemeanor theft. He remains in jail on a $250 cash bail and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the charges Dec. 18.

• Alysha I. Bengsch-Schlaht, 18, of Rio, on a charge of felony burglary as party to the crime and misdemeanor theft as party to the crime. She is scheduled for an initial hearing Dec. 10.

Acting on a tip from a witness, police obtained a search warrant on a Hiawatha Street home where Powell, Keipe and Bengsch-Schlaht were sleeping in the basement, according to police. The three were not residents of the home, but knew the occupant, police said.

After a search of the home, police recovered most of the items taken in the burglary, the complaint stated.

Bengsch-Schlaht reportedly told police that she drove Powell and Keipe to the School Road home and picked them up after the burglary at Portage High School with the stolen items, according to the complaint.

Police said Powell and Keipe targeted the home because Powell knew the son of the homeowner and that the home was usually unlocked.

Bengsch-Schlaht, Powell and Keipe faces penalties of up to 12 1/2 years of imprisonment and fines of $25,000 if they are found guilty of the felony burglary charge.

sgreen@capitalnewspapers.com

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