Mother of confessed robber: 'Why would you do something like that?'

The search for a group of 13- or 14-year-old boys suspected of robbing a Sioux Falls convenience store this week ended late Wednesday when two older teenage girls confessed to the crime — first to their parents, then to police.

Police still are looking for two more people involved in an armed robbery at Cubby's convenience store early Tuesday morning, but two suspects, Kelli Nicole Schlotterback, 19, and an unnamed 17-year-old girl, turned themselves in Wednesday night.

Schlotterback's mother said in an interview that her daughter confessed to the crime five minutes before turning herself in.

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"She asked me if she could talk to me and asked if I had heard about the robbery," Char Harris said as she fought back tears. "She told me that she was the one that did it. … She was scared — 100 percent scared."

Harris said she had no idea her daughter was involved until she and her husband, Brian Harris, received the call.

Schlotterback made her initial appearance in court Thursday on charges of first-degree robbery, a class 2 felony punishable of up to 25 years in prison, as well as possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Lt. Matt Burns said police are close to making more arrests.

According to police, two people with semiautomatic handguns wearing black hooded-sweatshirts and dark-colored bandanas over their faces entered the convenience store at 2101 W. 49th St. around 1 a.m. early Tuesday morning. A third person, also wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, waited by the door, and a fourth person served as a getaway driver. They fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash in a silver Ford Freestyle.

The store clerk had guessed, based on the suspects' height and voices, that they were boys between the ages 13 and 14.

Harris said Schlotterback, a former Washington High student, was with the 17-year-old girl when she turned herself in Wednesday night. She said her daughter hasn't answered many questions, including why she did it and where the group found the guns.

"When I asked for details, she would be very vague," Harris said. "My first question is 'Why?' Why would you do something like that? She has a brother that would help her out with money if that was the issue. But her response was, 'I don't know.' The more we push, the more she shuts down."

Schlotterback always has been willing to help out in the family, including helping to plan a funeral when her grandfather died, Harris said. Schlotterback also has helped with the family's cleaning business and remains close to her biological father.

Harris said Schlotterback usually surrounds herself with a small circle of friends, but Harris said she wasn't familiar with the people who were also involved in the robbery.

"The one thing I do want everybody to understand: She is grown. It wasn't like I sat and heard her (confess) in her bedroom," Harris said. "She is 19 — she made that choice on her own. As a parent, I am still going to stand beside her and be the parent I can be."

Minnehaha County deputy state attorney Donald Hanson asked Judge John Hindrichs to hold Schlotterback on a $10,000 cash-only bond, but Hindrichs made the bond a cash or surety because of Schlotterback's age and the fact that she turned herself in.

For that, Harris said she's proud.

"That, to me, is telling me she is facing her crime. She knows she did wrong," Harris said. "Everyone judging her on how she looks and what she did — step back. She is 19, and she made a mistake and she will pay for it her whole life. Don't judge. She will do her time and be a better person when she comes out of it."

Argus Leader reporter Mark Walker contributed to this report.