Charges: Suspect restrained elderly man with zip ties, tasered him during Barron County armed robbery

A Little Canada man is facing criminal charges in connection with an armed robbery that happened in Barron County in December.

Ryan Charpentier, 33, was charged with one count of armed robbery, one count of armed burglary, one count of physical abuse of an elder person, one count of false imprisonment, and one count of theft, according to Barron County court records.

A criminal complaint states that on Dec. 19, Charpentier and another man entered the victim’s home in Barron, pointed silver handguns at him, and restrained his hands and feet with zip ties and rope.

The men then pushed the victim onto the floor and threatened him with violence if he did not give them the combination to a safe in the back of the living room, according to the complaint.

The victim gave the men the combination but had to open the safe for them when they couldn’t unlock it. Authorities say the men stole between $13,000 and $14,000 in cash, a Smith and Wesson .22 caliber handgun, $250 in Black Hills Gold jewelry, a pocket watch worth $250, and a weather station.

The victim told police that one of the men then stayed with him while the other man searched the rest of the home. When the man found another safe upstairs, he again threatened the victim with violence if he did not disclose the location of the key, according to the complaint.

The men opened the upstairs safe and took multiple guns, although the complaint does not specify what kind. The victim also told law enforcement that at some point during the incident, he was tasered in the face.

Charpentier and the man with him also took the victim’s wallet and cellphone before leaving.

The victim contacted law enforcement after neighbors helped him cut the restraints off, the complaint states.

Officials say a neighbor who was leaving for work during the robbery noticed a tan SUV parked outside of the victim’s home. Law enforcement used surveillance footage from the area to identify a suspect vehicle, which was registered to Charpentier.

The complaint says investigators used video from a gas station nearby, which showed the tan SUV and two men, to identify Charpentier as a suspect. Officials say the other man had not yet been identified.