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Krueger
Alleged Shopko crasher found mentally competent.
#OceanaCountyCourtNews
By Allison Scarbrough. Editor.
HART — The 35-year-old Mears man accused of crashing through the Shopko store in Hart last spring has been found competent to stand trial following testing at a psychiatric facility in Ypsilanti.
Matthew Lawrence Krueger’s evaluation was recently completed, and a hearing took place Tuesday, Sept. 12, in 78th District Court, according to Oceana County Prosecutor Joseph Bizon. Krueger was found competent to stand trial, Bizon said. He waived his preliminary exam.
His case now moves up to 27th Circuit Court, the prosecutor said. “Criminal responsibility (his sanity) is a matter for trial court,” Bizon stated.
The crash scene at Shopko May 3, 2017.
Krueger was found not guilty by reason of insanity in August of 2015 for burning down his parents’ hobby garage in Mears the previous February and then going on a rampage at the US Coast Guard Station in Grand Haven, ramming the facility’s gate with his vehicle and assaulting a service member after calling in a bomb threat.
The most recent incident that he is accused of involved crashing through the Shopko Hometown store in Hart with his pickup truck last May while customers and employees were inside. The store received extensive damage, but no one was injured.
He faces felony charges of malicious destruction of a building $20,000 or more and felonious assault (with his truck) and a misdemeanor charge of reckless driving.
“I was angry at the pharmacy clerk,” Krueger said previously when asked why he crashed through Shopko.
The purpose of the psych testing was to “determine his mental state at the time of his offense,” said Bizon previously. Krueger was housed at the psychiatric center during the months-long testing process. He has returned to the Oceana County Jail on a $100,000/cash/surety bond.
This story is copyrighted © 2017, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
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