Chris Gregory, Deputy County AttorneyGallatin County Attorney's Office1709 West CollegeB ozeman, Mon t an a 5 9 7 1 5( 406) 5 8 2 - 3 7 4 5

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MMONTANA EIGHTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT.'ZQ)AT," GPfiATIN COUNTY

* * *

) Case N o . : DC - 1 5 - . l f'f gSTATE OF MONTANA/

vs.

Plaintiff,)) AFFIDAVIT OF PROBABLE CAUSE AND) MOTION FOR LEAVE TO F I LE AN) I N F ORMATION)))))

LLOYD DOUGLAS WALTERS,

D efendan t .

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)

located at 1687 North 1 9 in Bozem an, Gallatin County, 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' in Bozeman, 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

both also acknowledged that since the Defendant's termination the

Defendant h a d b e c o me 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 newspaper 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 an d c o n c e de d t h at 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 B D C

newspaper racks were located and had informed those businesses of

the Defendant's suspected activity. Bonnand stated that he had

r eques te d t h e s e b u s i n e s s e s contact BDC if they saw the Defendant

at a BDC m ac 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 . W it h

Frederick at the IHOP, Bonnand checked the BDC rack at the

GranYree C o n oco 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 e r e a s we l l .

1 1. Bo nnand s h o wed D e t . 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 obtained as part of the

Defendant's search incident to 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 e d

into evidence along with the container o f c h a ng e f o u n d o n t h e

Defendan t ' s p e r s o n . Th e l o o s e change, counted by Bozeman Police

Detectives Robert Uanuka a nd An t h on y H u tc h i n g s , t o t a l e d $4 7 . 1 2.

13. Det. Green then met with the Defendant, reading him his

Miranda rights, and the Defendant agreed to speak w i t 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.

15. On May 1, 2015 Det. Green again had contact with Bonnand.

Bonnand stated that after the Defendant was a rre s t e d , B D C h a d

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 C h a i r

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 t o . Bo n n a n d

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 suf f e r i ng

thefts of their machines and based on the amounts r ecove re 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 spreadshee t

detailing his estimated losses once he could actually calculate

more e x ac t n um b e r s .

1 6. On Na y 1 9, 20 1 5 B o n n and p r o v i d e d a s pre 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 t h e

Defendant's termination (February 3, 2015) to his a rres 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, BDC 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 n n a n d ' s spreadsheet s s t a t e d

that between February 3 and April 28, the total amount of papers

that had been taken from BDC machines should have totaled $7,949

in sales. Bonnand noted that the industry average loss is 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 oca t i 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

m achines .

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: Count 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 th i s 2 . $day o f ~l 2015.

regoryDeputy County Att ey

SUBSCRIBED and SWORN to befor me on this 2 day of 2015.

,"",'i~,E. «o "'.

=o.' 6 f '. g

,es&taaaer

OTAR>g . (j '

CHRISilNE RICHARDS

for the State of Montana

Manhattan, MontanaMy Cornrnission Expires:

February I5, 2015

fVotttry Public

Ae 'iciing at:

NOTARY BLI C FOR T E STATE OF MONTANAResiding at: Boze an, Montana

My commis ion expires:C hri s i n e Ri c ha r d s

a I i af' Ie i