Suspect's sweet tooth, anonymous tip leads to arrests in rash of auto break-ins

Alleged burglars stole snacks to fuel up for car break-ins.

James Russell, 20, was arrested June 17 for the alleged burglary of the concession stand at Legion Park and theft of coins and cash from numerous vehicles in the Sidney area over the past few weeks, according to a Cheyenne county sheriff's office affidavit.

On June 16, an officer went to Russell's residence on 11th Avenue and found numerous snack items that were consistent with a burglary of the concession stand at Legion Park. The Legion Park concession stand burglary occurred June 4. Candy, popsicles and pop were stolen from the concession stand.

A citizen's tip lead them to Russell.

"We received an anonymous lead about some suspicious activity at the residence," said Sidney's interim Chief of Police Joseph Aikens.

When the officer arrived to question Russell, he saw many items that he identified as being from the concession burglary. Russell claimed that friends had brought the items to his residence.

A Springfield Armory XD-9 9mm pistol was also found at Russell's residence.

The police then conducted interviews which lead them to believe Russell was involved with the car break-ins that occurred around the city in the past few weeks.

On June 17, while being interviewed by police, a juvenile confessed to robbing the concession stand with Russell. He also confessed to thefts from around 40 vehicles in the Sidney area. He admitted that he and Russell served at lookouts while two other individuals broke into five vehicles in the Sky Manor area. They also entered two or three vehicles near the college while Russell and himself stood watch.

He reported that one of the individuals was frightened and stopped when they saw a state trooper drive past. He and Russell stole from another 15 vehicles near the hospital and took cash and a pistol from a vehicle near the old Dairy Queen.

They counted around $800 in cash from these acts, which they divided among themselves. They also stole around $1280 in cash from cars around the golf course.

Russell also confessed to the burglary of the Legion Park concession stand and to stealing from various vehicles around Sidney from June 3 to June 13, according to the affidavit.

Russell is charged with seven counts of theft for the car break-ins and one count of burglary for the concession stand.

Both Russell and the juvenile questioned indicated that additional individuals were involved in the incident. Police plan to interview these individuals at a future time.

Local police combined their efforts to solve this case.

"The sheriff's office and Sidney police worked together," Cheyenne county sheriff John Jenson said.

Not all information available to police is being released at this time, because the case is still open.

"Parts are still under investigation," Jenson said.

The police have currently arrested two individuals. One is Russell and the other is the juvenile they questioned. As they investigate the case, they predict that they'll find more suspects. The suspects allegedly broke into many more cars than police originally thought, Aikens said.

"We've potentially identified that there are several more thefts than were reported," Aikens said.

Aikens was not sure if police recovered any cash, but encourages citizens to make a police report no matter what was taken from their vehicle. They did find a few unique and expensive items, he said.

"We want to encourage the public, if they had a theft from a vehicle to report to police," Aikens said.