CASPER, Wyo. — A Casper man was sentenced to six to eight years in prison on Thursday for his role in two burglaries last year.

Jordan Lee Bernard, 33, had pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit burglary for two different cases. In one case, he entered an Alford guilty plea, meaning he still contests elements of the charge but doesn’t wish to challenge the state’s ability to prove it at trial.

On April 1, a woman called 911 to report a burglary in progress on the 3100 block of Coffman Avenue, a neighborhood north of the Sunrise Shopping Center. According to the affidavit, she caught Bernard and his co-defendant, Jordan Lee Schmidt, hauling a welder out of a shed in the backyard to the alley, where their accomplice, Christopher Raines, was waiting in a truck. A witness said Bernard was also holding a gun. Bernard told police he had gotten the gun out of the truck after the woman came out of the house.

Bernard’s public defender, Marty Scott, told the court Thursday that Bernard had not pointed the gun at anyone.

The woman had a gun and told the men she was calling the police. She had reportedly been tipped off by Schmidt’s girlfriend that the men were coming to steal the welder. The woman’s husband, who was out of town, said Schmidt used to work for him and that Schmidt had given him the welder to settle a debt.

Police waited near the suspects’ known address and conducted a high-risk traffic stop when the truck entered the area. The three suspects were arrested, as was a fourth person with an unrelated warrant.

Schmidt pleaded guilty to the burglary conspiracy last November, and Raines has entered an Alford guilty plea. Police say Raines had a drill bit in his front shirt pocket that matched the screws on a plank of wood that the homeowner had used to board up the shed while he was out of town. He had reportedly been missing some tools from his truck recently and suspected that Schmidt was targeting him in the thefts.

Bernard was seen on surveillance footage arriving at the house earlier in the day and police believe he was going to collect the welder at that time, but the shed was boarded up.

Schmidt and Bernard are also ordered to pay over $11,000 in restitution in a separate but linked case. In that case, Schmidt had been living in a camper parked outside a shop on the 400 block of North Conwell and stealing items from the shop, according to the affidavit. Bernard had reportedly told Schmidt about the unattended shop and helped him sell the items, including tools and a flat-screen TV, on Facebook. The shop owner had reportedly  been living out of state.

Scott asked the court to consider a suspended sentence for Bernard, noting that, as of Thursday, he had only one (nonviolent) felony conviction. He added that he’d found Bernard to be polite and respectful, and that addiction and “misguided loyalty to his friends” had factored in his decisions.

State prosecutor Brandon Rosty asked for a nine- to 10-year sentence. In his arguments he indicated that the welder the men attempted to steal back from the Coffman Avenue address had originally been taken from the shop.

Bernard said he apologized to the victims, the court and his family. He said addiction made him do things he wouldn’t normally do.

Judge Catherine Wilking ultimately imposed two concurrent six- to eight-year sentences, citing the seriousness of the crimes and the high risk for recidivism noted in the presentence investigation report.

Bernard will get credit for 290 days served on the residential burglary and 183 days served on the shop burglary. Bernard is awaiting sentencing on a forgery case in another court.

Last year, Bernard was found not guilty of aggravated assault and battery. In December 2023, a woman reported that Bernard had shot at her with an assault rifle while she was alone in a vehicle. At trial, she changed her story, saying that she had been in the vehicle with Brandon Lopez and that Lopez had insisted she report Bernard as the shooter. At trial, she said she didn’t know who the actual shooter was, just that he was “very tall and bony.”

5 Potentially Dangerous Pests to Keep Out of Your House

Bugs commonly overwinter indoors to stay toasty and dry. Some are driven in by easy access to food sources. Be on the lookout for the ones that can be dangerous, if not downright repulsive, to keep you and your loved ones safe this winter .

Gallery Credit: Kolby Fedore, TSM

Oil City News LLC is a nonpartisan media organization and Central Wyoming’s largest locally owned, independent news platform. The mission of Oil City’s award-winning team of Casper-based journalists is to build a more informed and connected community by producing local stories first, fast and forever free. If you would like to read the original article, click here.

More From K2 Radio