3 days ago
Wyoming Supreme Court maintains that convicted thief must pay thousands in restitution
CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of a Cheyenne man who was charged with one count of theft over $1,000 and one count of aggravated burglary with a deadly weapon in 2023.
Timothy Duke was one of five co-defendants arrested in connection with an investigation of the burglary of three Cheyenne homes in December of that year.
Under a plea agreement, Duke pleaded guilty to the aggravated burglary charge and prosecutors dismissed the theft charge, according to court documents. The parties recommended a sentence of not less than five years and not more than eight years of imprisonment, and Duke agreed to pay restitution, jointly and individually, with his co-defendants.
The homes that were burglarized — owned by Joseph Walsh — housed rare coins, police memorabilia and firearms. They were primarily used for storage.
Walsh was the only witness called to the stand at Duke's restitution hearing. He described his properties, saying one house he had inherited from his late mother. He stored her coins, guns, collectibles and a 'substantial amount of cash' at the property.
The second home held the entire unsold inventory from a coin shop Walsh had previously owned, according to court documents. The third home Walsh inherited from his father. He considered it a secondary residence. That property held cash, collectibles and personal effects.
When Walsh arrived to pick up mail from one of his properties in December of 2023, he found the front door had been left ajar, and the place had been 'ransacked.' Household items were missing and piles of stuff had been left around the house, according to court documents.
He later visited another property to find it in the same condition.
He then called the Cheyenne Police Department to report the stolen items, including missing cash, collectible coins, silver dollars, more than 70 firearms, various trade tokens and antique Wyoming police badges, according to court documents.
The entire restitution claim equaled $507,000. Walsh did not request restitution for the missing coin shop inventory, and prosecutors were only seeking restitution for 'calculable' items that had not been returned.
In court, prosecutors presented a large binder containing 880 pages of receipts to demonstrate how much work Walsh had put into organizing the mess and assessing the loss. Walsh and his wife, Denise Parrish, had not kept a complete inventory of the items in storage and had to sort through their remaining belongings to determine what was stolen.
Following the restitution hearing, the district court received an amended pre-sentence investigation report and victim impact statement from Parrish, which confirmed that only a small amount of the stolen property was recovered.
The court ultimately ordered Duke to serve five to eight years in prison and pay the more than half-a-million dollars in restitution, along with his co-defendants, according to court documents.
Duke appealed the District Court's ruling based on claims that 'Walsh never fully articulated what had been retrieved by police and what was still missing,' and that Walsh was only able to provide estimated values for the items stolen.
Since Walsh adjusted his restitution claim to account for the returned items and had personal expertise regarding the remaining missing items, the Wyoming Supreme Court found that 'there was sufficient evidence to sustain the district court's findings with respect to restitution.'
Additionally, the state Supreme Court ruled that the district court had not abused its discretion, which was the basis of Duke's appeal.
