Crime Corner, March 20

Man jailed for grand larceny

John Robert Bessey was arrested on March 11 and charged with grand larceny auto and obtain money under false pretenses.

According to the arrest report, the investigation began on Nov. 6, 2013 when deputies with the Nye County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to an address on West McMurray Drive regarding a possible theft.

Deputies subsequently made contact with the victim, the property owner, who reportedly said that he was away from his property for approximately one year beginning around Nov. 1, 2012 through Nov. 1, 2013.

The victim explained he left his property and the belongings in the care of a tenant named John. The victim said he thought John’s last name was Dessey but was not able to provide any further identifying information.

The victim reportedly told deputies that he learned through Facebook that Bessey had sold many of the items on the property which belonged to the victim.

The victim said he was able to create a list of the missing items which consisted of 35 different, suspected stolen items that allegedly were valued at approximately $10,000. The items ranged from tools to car parts, a vehicle, vehicle trailers and other miscellaneous items.

After a number of attempts, deputies were unable to locate Bessey at that time and the case went cold. On March 5, the victim contacted deputies and reportedly told them of the area that Bessey might be living in.

Deputies attempted to contact Bessey on March 11 to no avail. As deputies were driving in the area of West Bell Vista they reportedly saw a male matching Bessey’s description and stopped him.

Bessey was subsequently arrested and deputies also learned he had a warrant out for possession of narcotics as well. Bessey reportedly admitted to selling a number of the victim’s items while he was living at the residence.

Bessey was charged with grand larceny auto and obtain money under false pretenses and was booked into the Nye County Detention Center.

Woman jailed for burglary

Stephanie Ann Heier was jailed on March 15 and charged with burglary, manufacture/import/possess/use dangerous weapon and possession of burglary tools after deputies were dispatched to a report of a suspected burglary at a residence in the area of Jasmine and Bannavitch Streets.

As deputies were responding, dispatch advised them that there were two individuals walking in the area with flashlights at a corner residence.

When deputies arrived at the suspected residence, which they knew as vacant, they observed a blue moped at the end of the driveway and the muffler was still warm to the touch.

After announcing their presence and shouting commands to exit the residence to no avail, deputies made their way inside and found the front door appeared to have been kicked in. Inside the kitchen pantry, deputies found a female, later identified as Heier and she was taken into custody.

As she was being searched, deputies found several items of suspected burglary tools on her person as well as a straight-blade knife. As she was being taken into custody, Heier began yelling that she was looking for her cat and that she did not come outside because she did not believe they were real deputies.

As deputies looked around, they reportedly found a purple Crown Royal bag on the kitchen counter with a number of suspected burglary tools inside.

Heier was subsequently arrested and transported to the jail and booked on charges of burglary, manufacture/import/possess/use dangerous weapon and possession of burglary tools.

The arrest report makes no mention of what happened to the second suspect in this case.

Compiled from Nye County Sheriff’s Office incident reports by reporter Michelle Hermann. Contact her at michelle.pvtimes@gmail.com.