CASPER — A 16-year-old Gillette boy facing six charges stemming from an overnight Casper crime spree where he and others allegedly stole cars, guns, and broke into an apartment, pleaded not guilty in Natrona County District Court on Friday.
Everett Kale Forbes stood beside his attorney Steven Mink before Judge Joshua Eames as the judge read through the charges that include conspiracy to commit theft, two counts of theft, aggravated burglary, burglary, and eluding.
Eames asked Forbes, who has been charged as an adult in the case, if he understood the penalties of the charges, noting that the aggravated burglary charge carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison and up to 25 years.
Forbes replied he did. The judge asked him how he would plead to all six charges.
“Not guilty, your honor,” Forbes said.
Eames told Forbes that his trial is set for Dec. 29 and asked Mink if he planned on filing a transfer motion to juvenile court.
“At this juncture, I don’t,” Mink said.
Mink also did not ask the court for a reduction in his client’s $100,000 cash or surety bond.
The Allegations
Charges against Forbes came after a series of vehicle thefts that began with calls to 911 around 9:30 p.m. Aug. 16 from a resident in the 4000 block of Gannett Street on Casper’s east side.
That person saw three males wearing separate red, black, and blue hooded sweatshirts testing door handles on cars and getting access to several vehicles.
Casper Police Detective Tiffany Elhart testified during Forbes preliminary examination that Forbes was one of potentially five juveniles from the Gillette and Sheridan areas involved in the theft ring. She identified Forbes as the person in the blue hoodie.
As the night progressed, Casper police received reports of a stolen wallet and pistol from an address in the 4000 block of Gannett Street, and then of two masked people with red and blue hoodies getting out of a white Mazda at the westside Walmart parking lot.
The person wearing the red hoodie got into a black Taurus and the person with the blue hoodie into a white BMW.
The investigation showed the 2016 Mazda driven into the lot had been stolen from a Casper resident who lived in the 8000 block of West Chalk Creek Road.
Video footage confirmed the same young men in hoodies matched descriptions of the seen trying to enter cars on the east side of town.
Police then responded to a reported residential burglary at 3:48 a.m. on Aug. 17, where an apartment renter told police he was sleeping and woke up because of loud bangs on his front door.
Door Kicked In
A Casper Police Department affidavit in the case states his “front door had been kicked in and was wide open with pieces of the frame scattered about.”
Elhart testified at the preliminary hearing that video taken from a camera at an apartment across the hall showed a person in a red sweatshirt trying the door handle, then speaking to people off camera and whispering, “This is the one.”
The video showed all three males involved in the previous calls wearing black, red, and blue sweatshirts and masks. The male wearing the black sweatshirt covered the camera and a “loud bang” could be heard in the video.
Elhart said the video then showed the red-hoodie teen inside and trying to get out and the person in the blue hoodie trying to enter the apartment.
Forbes and a minor accomplice were caught by police after a Natrona County Sheriff’s Office deputy spotted both the black Taurus and white BMW traveling at high speeds on Wyoming Boulevard in Casper.
The vehicles took off and hit speeds of more than 100 mph when the deputy tried to pull them over, Elhart testified.
While the black Taurus eluded officers, the white BMW left the roadway, jumped a curb, and stopped. The occupants fled on foot, police gave chase, and Forbes was arrested wearing the blue hoodie, Elhart said.
He had been driving the vehicle.
Forbes’ accomplice was arrested as well and is in the juvenile court system, Elhart testified at the preliminary hearing.
The white BMW had been stolen from a home in the 2000 block of Centennial Hills Boulevard.
Inside the BMW, police found four firearms, including a pistol stolen from the 4000 Gannett Street address on the driver’s seat.
Officers also recovered a black Walther handgun wrapped in a black face mask with serial number filed off, a black Sig Sauer P365 9 mm found on the ground outside the passenger door, and a black TP9 Canik handgun found on the front passenger sideboard, the police affidavit states.
On Aug. 17, the Sig Sauer P365 handgun was reported stolen. The owner said it was in his vehicle parked in the 100 block of Indian Paintbrush Street on the city’s southwest side.
The conspiracy to commit theft — two theft charges — and burglary charge all are punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 fines. The aggravated burglary charge is punishable by a minimum of five to 25 years in prison and $50,000 fine.
The eluding charge is a misdemeanor and carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a fine of $750.
Natrona County Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson asked the judge to set a status conference in the case and conferred with Mink. They agreed to address any potential transfer motion and other issues at that time.
After the hearing, Mink said the transfer motion is something he always considers when representing “a young guy like this.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
