Plea deal reached in Christofferson case

An 18-year-old Alliance man accused of burglarizing a Sidney home last May has reached a plea deal with prosecutors in the case.

Troy Christofferson pleaded no contest to two counts of aiding and abetting a theft and one count of theft by receiving stolen property.

All three counts are class one misdemeanors and each carry a maximum jail sentence of one year.

Christofferson had initially faced a felony charge of burglary.

As part of the plea agreement, he must pay $2,200 in restitution.

Christofferson is scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at 4:30 p.m. in Cheyenne County District Court.

In court documents, police allege Christofferson participated in a burglary in May along with at least four other individuals. More than $6,000 was taken from the residence and nearly $2,000 of damage was done to the property.

The house was burglarized while the residents were out of town.

Authorities identified the alleged suspects through a shopping receipt that was left at the house.

Police were alerted to the burglary after a house sitter discovered the home’s door unlocked and ransacked. The house sitter also alerted authorities to a Wal-Mart receipt found on a bedroom floor that hadn’t been there before.

Law enforcement officers were able to obtain surveillance video of the sales transaction at the store, which recorded a group of males purchasing candy.

Upon their return to Sidney, a resident of the home recognized one of the males in the video as Christofferson, and told police the two were Facebook friends. The resident said he had posted an update on the social media website announcing he’d be out of town prior to his departure.

Christofferson previously lived in Sidney and was a former friend of the resident, according to a probable cause affidavit.

Sidney Police contacted authorities in Alliance who helped identify the other males recorded in the surveillance footage. An Alliance Police officer also reported that a girlfriend of one of the suspects had told authorities Christofferson and her boyfriend had burglarized the house.

The Sidney Sun-Telegraph is not naming the other individuals because they were minors at the time of the alleged crime.