Casper juvenile charged with five auto burglaries, two handgun thefts

CASPER, Wyo. — Casper police say that a 17-year-old’s cellphone location data helped tie him to a string of auto burglaries and the theft of two handguns in late September. According to Detective Andrea Husted’s affidavit, the defendant also sent Snapchat videos of himself holding the two guns to a friend.

Donovan Lee Miller, 17, is being charged as an adult with five counts of vehicle burglary, two counts of grand theft, and misdemeanor property destruction. His case was bound over to district court after a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, Nov. 26, according to court records. His bond was reduced from $50,000 cash only to $30,000 cash or surety.

Miller is presumed innocent unless proven or pleading guilty.

On the night of Sept. 24, a Casper police officer responded to a call for suspicious activity on the 300 block of West 11th Street, the affidavit said. A woman had reported that someone was in the street getting in and out of a vehicle and appeared to be trying to get into another vehicle.

The officer arrived to find Miller with a disabled Mercedes that appeared to be leaking coolant. It was later learned that he had purchased the vehicle on Facebook Marketplace for $700 after a previous buyer hadn’t been able to make payments. The previous owner reportedly said the head gaskets were blown.

The officer noted that the title Miller provided was incomplete, and he also noted cigars and vapes in plain view in the vehicle, according to the affidavit. During a search of the vehicle, a Taurus G2C 9mm handgun was found in the center console and a Sig Sauer 9mm was found under the driver’s seat.

The Taurus was confirmed stolen and is believed to have been taken from an unlocked truck while it was parked at either the U-Haul or Big D gas station on East 2nd Street on Sept. 18.

The Sig Sauer had been reported stolen the previous morning from a vehicle parked in front of an apartment complex on the 2200 block of South McKinley Street. The owner said the vehicle must have been unlocked, according to the affidavit.

On Oct. 9, Husted executed a search warrant for Miller’s phone and cross-checked the  GPS location data with auto burglary reports. There were two reported auto burglaries on the 2500 block of South Jefferson on Sept. 23. About $600 in cash and $20 change were reported missing. Both vehicles had reportedly been left unlocked overnight.

A man on the 1300 block of South Oak Street also reported his truck burglarized sometime between Sept. 18 and the morning of Sept. 19. An unlocked window was the suspected entry point. The man reported the loss of $120 in cash, solar panels, work apparel and a box full of CDs.

In addition to the Snapchat videos, Miller allegedly texted a friend on the morning of Sept. 23 — the day of the vehicle purchase — that he “got 2000 in a night tn,” as well as “Do the crime do the time” with an emoji figure with his hands up.