June 23, 2009 10:22 pm
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By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — Mona Lester had just halted for a stop sign when she saw the silver Dodge Charger enter the intersection from the east.
Lester, stopped at the intersection of roads 550 and 50 west of Commerce on Monday afternoon, watched as the Charger made a partial U-turn and pulled in front of her vehicle, blocking her path.
She then watched as the driver, later identified as 27-year-old Jason N. Holland, allegedly left his vehicle, walked over to her passenger side, jerked open the door and snatched her purse from the floorboard.
As he left, she later told authorities, Holland told her: “Have a nice day.”
Lester was able to obtain the Charger’s license-plate number before Holland and his passenger, later identified as his 30-year-old brother, Jeremy Holland, fled west.
Within the next couple of hours, the Holland brothers reportedly suffered a flat tire, drove through a family’s back yard but got chased off by a dog, then got chased out of a woman’s house before they were confronted by a deputy with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department.
The officer arrested both men, undeterred by Jason Holland’s reported bluster about his previous felony convictions, hard time in prison and purported Aryan Brotherhood ties.
“We haven’t verified that yet,” said Ottawa County Undersheriff Bob Ernst, of Holland’s Aryan Brotherhood affiliation.
Jason Holland, of Pittsburg, Kan., and Jeremy Holland, of Parsons, Kan., were still in custody Tuesday, awaiting charges that the district attorney’s office said are expected to be filed today. The brothers reportedly were still boasting about their impressive felony records, their previous prison stints and their gang affiliations while they were being booked.
The Sheriff’s Department said all that the Holland brothers allegedly took during Monday’s spree was Lester’s purse, which later was retrieved. The only things missing from the purse were the battery and back cover to Lester’s cell phone.
Less than an hour after Lester saw her purse stolen, Peggy Davis, who lives seven miles from the intersection along East 30 Road, saw a silver Dodge Charger drive past her home four times. Davis later told county authorities that she noticed the Charger because of the noise from a front tire, which was going flat.
Davis then watched the Charger drive through her yard and up to her pool.
“Mrs. Davis stated she and her therapeutic foster children were in the pool when the suspect drove through her yard right up to the pool,” according to an affidavit filed by sheriff’s Sgt. Robert Cook. Cook was the officer who ultimately found and arrested the Holland brothers.
Davis reportedly saw the Holland brothers laugh and start to leave their car, only to be deterred when her son’s boxer, Myla, “became very agitated and began to charge” Jeremy Holland, according to Cook’s affidavit. The brothers retreated to their car and left.
Davis called authorities just before 1:48 p.m.
At 2:09 p.m., Cook was traveling north on South 490 Road, nearing the Kansas state line, when he spotted a silver Charger with a license-plate number matching Lester’s description parked in a driveway along the road.
Not long before, the owner of the driveway and the residence to which it leads, Carrie Stotts, had told the Holland brothers to leave her house. This was after the brothers reportedly showed up soliciting help for the flat tire. Stotts was going to furnish them with a jack and a tire tool, and even lend them her cell phone so they could call for help, when she saw them inside her house “looking around,” according to Cook’s affidavit.
Twice Stotts asked them to leave, and after the second time, they did.
When Cook confronted the brothers, Jason Holland told the sergeant: “You don’t know who you are f---ing with! I have spent 10 years in prison and am (Aryan Brotherhood) and I am not scared of you!” according to the affidavit.
Jason Holland, Cook wrote, then took an aggressive stance toward him before Cook took him to the ground. Cook wrote that when Jeremy Holland approached him and started shouting, he drew his weapon and ordered Jeremy Holland to the ground.
Cook arrested both men. Lester later went to Stotts’ residence and identified the brothers as the men in the Charger, prompting Jeremy Holland to say: “It was me.”
“Jason Holland then told Jeremy Holland to be quiet,” Cook wrote in the affidavit.
Previous cases
Jason N. Holland, of Pittsburg, Kan., has “an extensive criminal history with numerous felony and misdemeanor convictions in Oklahoma, Alabama (and) Kansas,” along with an outstanding warrant from Walla Walla, Wash., in reference to fraud. Jeremy Holland, of Parsons, Kan., has misdemeanor convictions out of Oklahoma and Kansas.
Source: Affidavit from Sgt. Robert Cook of the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department
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Photos
Jason Holland