Chris Gregory, Deputy County Attorney p Gallatin County Attorney's Office ~ l<lli 1709 West College B ozeman, Mo n t a n a 59715 ( 406 582-3745 M MONTANA EIGHTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT.'ZQAT," GPfiATIN COUNTY STATE OF MONTANA / Plaintiff, vs. L LOYD DO U G LA S WALTERS, Defendant. * * * Case No. : DC-15-. l f'f g A FFIDAVIT OF P R O B A B LE C A U S E AND M OTION F OR L E A V E T O F I L E AN INFORMATION COMES NOW the undersigned, and being first duly sworn upon oath, d eposes an d s a y s as f o l l ows : 1. Your Affiant is a Deputy Gallatin County Attorney, and by law one of the attorneys to prosecute criminal matters in the State of Montana. 2. Based upon reports of investigation compiled by Detective Ben Green and Officer Tommie Franscioni, both of the Bozeman Police Department, your Affiant is aware of the following. 3. On or about April 28, 2015 an individual by the name of Bill Frederick contacted law enforcement about a possible theft. Frederick identified himself as a Bozeman Daily Chronicle (BDC herein employee, stating that he had seen a male suspect steal money from a BDC newspaper rack. Frederick reported that he had watched the individual take money from a BDC newspaper rack stationed at the International House of Pancakes (IHOP herein l ocated at 1 6 8 7 N o r t h 1 9 in B o zem a n, G a l l a t i n C o u n t y, MT.
Frederick said he then followed the suspect to the Town Pump at 18741 Baxter Lane in Bozeman, ~here the suspect again took money from another BDC newspaper rack. The male suspect then went to the Casey's Corner Exxon at 1420 North 7' i n B o zeman, where he was stopped by Bozeman Police Officer Zachary Heninger. 4. The male suspect stopped by Officer Heninger, and confirmed by Frederick to be the suspect stealing from multiple BDC newspaper stands, was identified as Lloyd Douglas Walters (the Defendant herein. At that time the Defendant was found to be in possession of a container full of loose change. The Defendant was then placed under arrest for theft and searched incident to arrest. At that time Det. Green, who was aware that Officer Franscioni was investigating several other thefts from BDC newspaper racks, made contact with Officer Heninger and requested that the Defendant be brought to the Gallatin County Law and Justice Center for questioning. 5. Prior to speaking to the Defendant, Det. Green spoke to both Frederick and BDC employee Aaron Bonnand. Both Frederick and Bonnand informed Det. Green that the Defendant had been an independent contractor for the BDC who worked servicing paper racks and collecting money, but that the Defendant's contract had been terminated in February of 2015. Both Frederick and Bonnand stated that the Defendant was ordered to turn in his keys to the BDC newspaper racks upon termination and that he had done s o, b u t b oth also a c k n o w l e d ge d t h a t s i n c e t h e D e f e n d a n t ' s t e r m i n a t io n the
D efendan t h a d b e c o m e a suspect in a string of thefts from their newspaper r a c k s. 6. Bonnand explained to Det. Green that since the thefts of t he BDC newspape r r ac ks started in February, BDC had changed the l ocks o n t h e r a c k s. However, B o n n a n d c o n c e d e d t hat t h e n ew l o c k s on the racks were actually old locks that BDC had used in the past. Bonnand also informed that BDC only empties the money from the racks every couple of weeks, despite the papers being delivered six days a week. Bonnand also stated that since the thefts began, he had gone to s evera l b u s i n e s s e s w h e r e BDC newspaper racks were located and had informed those businesses of the Defendant's suspected activity. Bonnand stated that he had r equeste d t h e s e b u s i n e sses contact BDC if they saw the Defendant at a BDC mac h i ne. 7. Bonnand informed that on April 28, 2015 he had been informed by an employee at the Conoco on 919 W. College in Bozeman that the Defendant had been spotted at a BDC rack and had since left westbound on College. Bonnand stated that he had then gone to the Casey's Corner at 4135 Valley Commons in Bozeman where he found the money from that BDC rack to be missing. Bonnand noted that he had checked that same Casey's Corner rack on April 26, and that the money had not been removed. 8. Bonnand informed that approximately twenty three (23 minutes after the first Conoco employee had contacted him, a Conoco employee for the station located at 621 W. Main in Bozeman
also contacted Bonnand. That employee informed that the Defendant had been at their BDC rack approximately ten minutes prior. 9. Bonnand said that after receiving the second call about the Defendant, he (Bonnand went to the Bozeman IHOP and found that the money had not yet been removed from that BDC rack. Frederick then met Bonnand at the IHOP where Frederick waited for the Defendant while Bonnand went to check other r acks. Wit h Frederick at the IHOP, Bonnand checked the BDC rack at the GranYree C o n oc o a t 14 1 7 N. 7 ' " and found that the money from that machine was also missing. Bonnand then went to the Town Pump at 1871 Baxter in Bozeman to wait for the Defendant. 10. Frederick told Det. Green that at the IHOP, at approximately 1345 hours, he watched the Defendant approach the BDC newspaper rack at that location. The Defendant then opened the machine, removed its coins, locked it, and drove away. Freder i c k r e c or d e d t h i s activity on his cell phone and provided a copy to Det. Green. Frederick then followed the Defendant to the Town Pump location on Baxter where both Frederick and Bonnand reported watching the Defendant take money from the BDC newspaper r ack t h ere a s we l l. 1 1. B o n n an d s h o we d Det. Gr e e n h i s set of keys to the BDC racks and was able to confirm that six of the keys found on the Defendant's key ring, which was Defendant's search incident to o btained a s p a r t o f the arrest, were keys to the locks on BDC newspaper racks. Bonnand stated that some o f t h e ke y s o n t h e Defendant's ring were to the current locks on the machines, and
some were to the locks BDC had changed out after the thefts began. 12. Det. Green noted that the Defendant's keys w ere e n t e r ed into evidence along with the container o f c h a n g e f o u n d o n t h e Defendant' s p e r s on. Th e l o o s e change, counted by Bozeman Police Detectives Robert Uanuka a nd An t h o n y Hutchi n gs, t ot a l e d $4 7. 12. 13. Det. Green then met with the Defendant, reading him his Miranda rights, and the Defendant agreed to speak wit h o u t an attorney. The Defendant denied having keys to the BDC racks, confirming that he was terminated from being a BDC contractor in late January or early February but claiming he had turned his keys in to BDC without making copies. When asked how the Defendant could get into the machines without a key, the Defendant refused to answer. When confronted with witness statements, backed up by video, accusing the Defendant of stealing money from the BDC racks, the Defendant requested an attorney. The Defendant stated "I don't really know how to explain that without incriminating myself." 14. During the investigation into the BDC newspaper rack thefts, Officer Franscioni provided Det. Green with video of the Defendant also taking money from the BDC rack located at 1211 East Main in Bozeman on April 21, 2015. 1 5. On Ma y 1, 2 0 1 5 D e t. Green again had contact with Bonnand. Bonnand stated that after the Defendant was a rr e s t e d, B D C had emptied all of the BDC newspaper racks which the Defendant could access and found a total of $8.00 in all of the machines
combined. Bonnand stated that there were two machines which he did not believe the Defendant had access to, o ne a t t h e R e d Chair Cafe in Bozeman which was added after the Defendant was fired and one from the machine in front of the BDC building which requires a special key which the Defendant did not have a ccess to. Bo nnand informed that $29.00 was recovered from the Red Chair machine and $59.90 was recovered from the BDC building machine. Bonnand stated that based on the length of time they have been suffer i ng thefts of their machines and based on the amounts r ecovere d f r om machines which the Defendant did not have access to, he estimated the total losses of the Defendant's actions to be approximately $9,976.50. Bonnand stated he would provide a spreadsheet detailing his estimated losses once he could actually calculate more e x a c t n umbers. 1 6. On N a y 19, 20 1 5 B o n n an d provi d e d a s pr e a d s h e e t t o De t. Green detailing the total estimated losses from the Defendant's thefts. Bonnand's data stated that from the date o f the Defendant's termination (February 3, 2015 to his a rr es t (Ap r i l 28, 2015, BDC had collected a total of $419.73 from its fifty four (54 machines in Bozeman. Bonnand's numbers showed that in a single week after the Defendant was arrested, B DC had c o l l ec t ed $ 699.52 i n n ew s p a pe r r a c k sa l e s. Bo nnand's spreadsheet s s t a t e d that between February 3 and April 28, t he to ta l a m o u n t o f p a p e r s that had been taken from BDC machines should have totaled $7,949 i n sales. B o n n an d n o t e d t h a t t h e i n d u s t r y a v e r ag e l o s s i s 10%, meaning that 10'-o of papers on average are stolen from racks
without being paid for. Bonnand's estimate for the total losses from BDC newspaper racks during the range from February 3 to April 28, accounting for the average 10% theft rate, was $6, 734. 37. 17. During his investigation, Det. Green also made contact with a number of employees working at BDC newspaper rack l ocati on s. 18. Rosa Bustamante, an employee of Casey's Corner at 1420 N. 7', reported that she had been working on April 28 when the Defendant was arrested. Bustamante stated that the Defendant had come into her store with a container of change. The Defendant had asked to buy gas and to cash his change. Bustamante stated that law enforcement had arrested the Defendant before the transaction was completed, but that the Defendant had purchased things with c hange i n t h e p a s t. 19. Jake Hunter Gilmore, an employee of the Conoco located at 919 W. College, said that he had been put on notice about the Defendant from a BDC employee. Gilmore stated that after being warned, he had seen the Defendant key into and take money from a BDC rack at the Conoco before leaving in a green Jeep. Gilmore stated he recognized the Defendant as a previous employee at Conoco. Gilmore said he had seen the Defendant take money from the BDC rack approximately 5-10 times since February. 20. Jessica Hensley, an employee of the Casey's Corner located at 1211 E. Main in Bozeman, reported that she had been told by Officer Franscioni that a male was stealing from BDC
machines. Since being informed of that fact, Hensley said she not i c e d t h e "regular guy" pull upon and take money out of the BDC machine on a regular basis. Hensley gave a description of the "regular guy" to Det. Green, describing what Det. Green recognized to be the Defendant, the Defendant's dog, and the Defendant's vehicle. Hensley stated she had noted the Defendant taking money specifically on April 21, 2015 and had provided video of it to Officer Franscioni. 21. Katherine Saunders, an employee with the Super 8 at 800 Wheat Drive in Bozeman, stated that at some point she had been informed that someone was stealing money from BDC machines. Saunders also stated that she was familiar with the Defendant as he was a former Super 8 employee. Saunders stated that she had, once, observed the Defendant taking money from a BDC machine after she had been informed that someone was stealing from those machines. 22. Geri Sinclair, an employee of the Casey's Corner located at 1211 E. Main, said she had seen the Defendant take money from their BDC machine approximately five separate times since February. Sinclair was able to describe the Defendant, his dog, and his vehicle. Sinclair stated that she was familiar with the Defendant from working at a different gas station. Sinclair stated she did not report the Defendant earlier because she was not aware he was not the regular paper person until April 16. Based on the foregoing facts, the undersigned moves the court for leave to file an Information charging the defendant with the
offense (s of: C o un t 1, Theft by common s cheme, a Fe l on y, i n violation of 5 45-6- 301, MCA, 545-2-101(8, MCA. Dated t hi s 2. $day of ~l 2015. regory Deputy County At t ey S UBSCRIBED and SWORN to befor m e o n t his 2 d a y o f 2015.,es&taaaer,"",'i~,E. «o "'. = o.' 6 OTAR>g f. '. (j g ' a Ii af'iei CHRISilNE RICHARDS fvotttry Public for the State of Montana Ae 'iciing at: Manhattan, Montana My Cornrnission Expires: February I5, 2015 NOTARY BLI C F O R T E STATE OF MONTANA Residing at: B o z e an, Montana My commis ion expires: C hri s i n e Ri c hards