Man repays $35,000 after burglary

A Flathead County man will serve no additional jail time after admitting his involvement in a 2009 burglary and repaying the victim $35,000.

Lance Gendreau, 20, pleaded guilty to felony theft in District Court June 24 after the Flathead County Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss a charge of felony accountability to burglary.

He was one of four men implicated in the theft of a safe containing upwards of $100,000 in cash and gold coins.

On Thursday, Judge Ted Lympus delivered a three-year deferred sentence, which means Gendreau will avoid prison if he remains law-abiding and follows the terms of probation.

His attorney had asked Lympus for a one-year deferred sentence. He implored the judge to consider Gendreau’s “age and stupidity” at the time of the crime.

Gendreau was one of four 19-year-old men involved in the March 29, 2009, burglary on Willow Drive.

Gendreau and Ben Therrien drove Quinn Brockman and Chris Nicodemus so they could steal a safe and later picked them up, according to court documents.

After breaking in through a window, the men removed the safe from the home, emptied it out at Therrien’s residence, and then dumped it in the river, prosecutors alleged.

Therrien was arrested after investigators received an anonymous tip naming him and his three co-defendants. In interviews with detectives, Therrien implicated Brockman, Nicodemus and Gendreau.

 Gendreau has since enrolled at the University of Montana and has borrowed money to repay the victim in the amount of $35,000.

As part of his sentencing, Lympus ruled that Gendreau will not be held liable for any remaining restitution as Nicodemus awaits an upcoming trial.

Charges against Brockman were dismissed due to a lack of evidence and Therrien received a suspended sentence in July.

Lympus asked Gendreau to take advantage of the lenient sentence and avoid placing himself in a position that could result in prison time. If convicted on the original charges, Gendreau would have faced up to 30 years in prison and $100,000 in fines.

“I can assure you that won’t happen,” Gendreau said.

Flathead County Attorney’s Office Administrator Vickie Eggum said the goal of prosecutors is always to make the victim of a crime whole. Restitution received in a lump sum does the best job of reaching that goal, she said.

“And it shows the commitment on behalf of the defendant,” Eggum said.