Bar Nunn Burglar’s Probation Revoked; Brandon Pederson Sent To Prison
A Casper man arrested on burglary charges last week was sent to prison on Thursday after a judge revoked his sentence of probation for a burglary conviction last year.
Brandon Pederson admitted he violated the terms of his probation and cried after Natrona County District Court Judge Thomas Sullins sentenced him to between two and four years imprisonment during a hearing.
Sullins also recommended an intensive drug treatment program for him while he is in prison.
In May, Pederson was given first time offender’s status and ordered to serve one to five years of probation, after he pleaded guilty to one charge of burglary.
The plea came after he was charged with for his involvement in 14 separate automobile burglaries in the Bar Nunn area.
In one burglary, about $5,800 of “Magic the Gathering” playing cards and investigators contacted a local business that traded in the cards, and named Joshua Bland as a suspect. He was labeled by law enforcement as the butt-crack bandit for his role in an attempted burglary of a car wash business.
Police located Bland and learned Pederson was a housemate. Pederson pleaded guilty in February 2016 and was sentenced three months later.
In late December, his probation and parole officer submitted a petition to the court to revoke his probation. The officer alleged he violated the terms of his probation by admitting to using methamphetamine and marijuana, failed to enter an in-patient drug treatment program, and tested positive for marijuana use.
Assistant District Attorney Dan Itzen told Sullins that Pederson did not take seriously the admonitions to get help. Itzen asked the judge to give Pederson a three- to five-year sentence.
Pederson's public defender Kurt Infanger said Pederson was in a program at the Central Wyoming Counseling Center but was discharged because of medical reasons. Infanger asked Sullins to give Pederson another chance at probation.
Pederson told Sullins he would not have begun to use methamphetamine again if he had not been discharged from CWCC.
Sullins agreed with Itzen that Pederson should go to prison.
In a recent development, authorities arrested Pederson at his mother's house in Bar Nunn on Jan. 23, and charged him with burglary and aggravated burglary.
Authorities executed a search warrant at his mother's house and recovered firearms, sunglasses, tools, hunting and fishing gear, and other items allegedly taken during burglaries reported from October 2016 through January 2017.
Court documents say Pederson admitted to investigators that he committed numerous auto burglaries while either high on methamphetamine or in order to get more money for methamphetamine.
He reportedly described his actions as “disgusting” during an interview with investigators.