Teens charged as adults in alleged attack

ATHOL — Four local teens are facing felony charges for allegedly attacking a man with a baseball bat and knife at an woman’s behest.

Dax M. Heisler, 18, of Hayden, is charged with aggravated battery, battery with intent to commit robbery and criminal conspiracy, all felonies.

Prosecutors also filed a deadly weapon enhancement.

Three other individuals, ages 16 or 17, are facing the same charges.

In Idaho, juveniles between the ages of 14 and 18 charged with assault or battery with intent to commit robbery are automatically charged as adults.

Police responded Oct. 23 to a report from an Athol man who said he was jumped by a group of teens at a gas station the weekend prior.

Security footage showed the man parked at a gas pump around 9 p.m., when an SUV pulled up and boxed him in.

Four teens — three boys and a girl — jumped out of the SUV, according to court documents, and swarmed the man’s truck, attempting to force their way inside.

The teen girl reportedly hit the man in the head with a baseball bat, causing him to fall to the ground, then continued to beat him. The group kicked him and stomped him, police said.

When the teen girl threw the bat at the man, striking him in the head, he grabbed the weapon and “fought his way back to his feet,” according to court documents.

One of the teens — later identified as Heisler — allegedly attempted to stab the man, who wheeled around, swinging the bat to keep the group at bay.

He reportedly hit one of the teens with the bat before he reached his truck and drove off.

The man reportedly sought medical care.

A gas station employee told police he witnessed the event but didn’t contact law enforcement because “he didn’t think he had to.”

The man said the teens later went to his residence, where they smashed the windows of his truck and slashed his tires.

Police determined that 43-year-old Athol resident Tracy Bremner is the registered owner of the SUV the teens were driving, which was found stashed in a wooded area with the plates removed.

Bremner had reportedly housed numerous minors in a trailer on her property, including some of the teens identified by police as suspects in the gas station incident, records show.

When contacted by police, Bremner allegedly said the Athol man had hit a close friend of hers.

According to reports, she said she wanted the teens, whom she described as “her kids,” to intimidate the man, so she provided them with weapons and the keys to her car.

Before police obtained a warrant for Bremner’s arrest, she allegedly fled the state.

She was arrested in Shoshone County last week and remains in jail on $100,000 bond.

She is charged with criminal conspiracy and injury to a child, both felonies.

In Idaho, injury to a child occurs when a person willfully causes or permits a child to be placed in a position that causes or is likely to cause great bodily injury, suffering or death.

Police identified Heisler and three other teens as suspects in the case.

When contacted by police, Heisler allegedly admitted to wielding a knife during the incident, as well as to stomping on and kicking the Athol man.

Heisler was arrested and remains in jail on $100,000 bail.

The other three suspects are being held on bonds ranging from $60,000 to $100,000.