CASPER — A 35-year-old Evansville man is accused of camping out in a trailer on someone’s property, then walking into their house uninvited to get orange juice from the refrigerator.
Police say those actions happened after Garrett Maheu failed to return as required to the Casper Re-entry Center, the community corrections facility in town.
Maheu waived a preliminary hearing Tuesday in Casper Circuit Court on charges of burglary, criminal entry, theft, interference with a police officer, and use of controlled substance in one case and an escape charge in another case.
Court documents show Maheu’s renewed encounter with the court system began with his failing to return to the halfway house facility by midnight May 25 following a shift at the Outback Steakhouse in Casper.
He was declared an escapee by the facility at 2 a.m., and law enforcement efforts to locate Maheu were unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, at about 8 p.m. the next day, Casper police were dispatched to a home on a report of a burglary.
Officers were told by the husband of a woman at the residence that a man in a blue beanie, black shirt, and blue jeans was trying to open the doors of their house.
His wife was inside and “freaking out,” according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in the case.
After police and the husband arrived at the home, the couple provided police with video of a man acting erratic, speaking to himself and apparently experiencing a “manic episode,” the affidavit states.
At 8:55, 911 got another call from a woman in the 2000 block of South Coffman Avenue that an unknown man just walked into her house, and she had no idea where he went.
Police responded to that home, and the woman told police he left out her back door and that she had never seen the man before.
She Was ‘Shaking’
“(The woman) was visibly shaking from the incident and advised she was shocked by the event,” the affidavit states. She "advised she was the only adult home and had two children who were asleep.”
The woman told police that a man in a black shirt suddenly walked into her house and opened her refrigerator.
She said she confronted the man, then he “grabbed a container of orange juice from the fridge and stated to (the woman) that he had been living in a camper parked out back.”
The woman told police he than ran out the back door with the orange juice and she then called 911.
Officers went to the back yard and found nobody in the trailer.
They had the woman examine the trailer and she told them it “was a mess and not in that state before being stored for the winter,” the affidavit states.
She told police the trailer was typically left unlocked.
She also pointed out a blue beanie in the bathroom of the camper that did not belong to her family. The beanie was similar to the one worn by the man on the video at the previous residence, the affidavit states.
Police searched the area, but could not locate the suspect.
At 10:12 p.m., another Casper resident called 911 about a man walking westbound in an alley who appeared to be under the influence.
Officers responded to the area and found Maheu in the vicinity of Dover Avenue and Essex Avenue, noting he matched the description of the man at the other locations.
Maheu told officers that he had been inside the camper on South Coffman Avenue and that the woman inside the home had given permission for him to take the orange juice.
He initially refused to give police his name, denying he was Garrett Wayne Maheu. But after being confronted with the description about the Casper Re-Entry Program escapee with the skull tattoo on his chest, which he had, he admitted his identify, the affidavit states.
Meth And Drinks
At the time of his arrest, Maheu was “profusely sweating” and had “pinpoint pupils” and was acting erratically, the affidavit states.
Under questioning, Maheu admitted he had used an “eight ball” of meth a few hours earlier, the term used to describe an eighth of an ounce of the drug.
He also had two drinks that were cold in his possession that included a Fever-Tree Ginger Beer and a Truly strawberry lemonade hard seltzer that he said he got from the cooler of a guy known as “Evil.”
When shown the beanie found in the camper, he told the officer that it “absolutely” belonged to him and that he obtained it at a truck stop.
Both the burglary and escape charges carry a potential penalty of 10 years in prison as well as an up to $10,000 fine for the burglary charge.
The criminal entry, theft, and use of a controlled substance charges are punishable by up to six months in prison and a $750 fine.
The interference with a police officer charge is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Bond was set at $10,000 cash or surety in the burglary case and $5,000 in the escape case.
Maheu had been serving time at the Casper Re-Entry Center after being sentenced for a larceny in Sweetwater County.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
