Second man involved in bungled burglary pleads guilty
Colton Theodore Wieczorek. (Photo courtesy the Flathead County Sheriff's Office)
Another of the four men accused of breaking into the wrong Kalispell home during a planned burglary has reached a deal with prosecutors.
Colton Theodore Wieczorek, 19, pleaded guilty June 23 in Flathead County District Court to criminal endangerment. Prosecutors initially charged him with conspiracy to commit burglary for his role in the aborted March break-in.
As part of the agreement, they will recommend he receive a three year deferred sentence and pay a $1,000 fine. Judge Robert Allison accepted the guilty plea and set sentencing for Sept. 1.
Wieczorek joins Branden Lee Alden Billings in admitting participating in the failed break-in. According to court documents, they and alleged co-conspirators Joseph Craig Neva and Joseph Claude Victoria planned to burglarize a mutual acquaintance of money and drugs. In anticipation, the group bought gloves and donned head coverings, court documents said.
But when they kicked in the door of a Fourth Avenue East home they realized they were at the wrong address. The resident, who was watching television, screamed when she saw a masked head poke through the space where her door once stood, court documents said.
The would-be burglars then fled on foot to a nearby pickup, which drove off.
All were later arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit burglary. Victoria earned an additional tampering with a witness or informant charge for allegedly threatening his accomplices against cooperating with investigators.
Billings pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary June 20, acknowledging that he kicked in the door during the break-in.
“I was told there was marijuana and money there — a lot,” he said of the group’s intended target.
In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors will recommend Billings serve a suspended five-year sentence. His sentencing is set for Sept. 22.
As for the other accused would-be burglars, both Neva and Victoria have a pretrial conferences scheduled for Nov. 16.
News Editor Derrick Perkins can be reached at 758-4430 or dperkins@dailyinterlake.com.