Photo by File photo Eric Bartels

When the North Platte Police Department arrested Eric Bartels, Shawn Reese, and Jeremy Wood in March, they shut down a burglary ring suspected of striking as many as 50 times.

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Bartels pleaded guilty to five counts of theft Monday in Lincoln County District Court. As part of a deal with prosecutors, an additional charge of theft was dropped.

Bartels will be sentenced April 5.

Reese was sentenced to the McCook work ethic camp in September. He also received three years probation and a 180-day jail term that could be waived if he successfully completes probation.

Wood awaits a jury trial, scheduled for January 26.

The bust

The burglaries occurred between Feb. 2 and March 11, according to an affidavit. The majority of burglaries occurred between March 8 and 10. Items taken in the burglaries included numerous tools, electronic equipment and other miscellaneous items including an ATV.

The police had been on the burglar’s trail for months and caught a break.

A confidential informant told an officer that he recently spoke to Bartels who was selling tools from his car. The informant told officers that Bartels originally wanted $400 for the tools but told the informant he would settle for $75. The informant suspected the tools might have been stolen.

On Feb. 25, officers were investigating a report that Bartels was selling marijuana from a blue Oldsmobile. Officers made contact with Bartels wife. She allowed officers to search the Oldsmobile but not the trailer she shared with Bartels at 2300 E. Philip No. 18B.

On March 12, at 12:51 a.m., a caller reported a man snooping around his vehicle at 112 West C. The man yelled at the suspicious man who then ran quickly from the area.

Patrolmen were in the area and began combing for suspicious activity. Officers quickly found three men on foot in the area – Bartels, Wood and Reese.

While interviewing the men separately Bartels admitted being with Reese, Reese denied being with Bartels and Wood claimed he didn’t know either man.

The caller reported a clothing description that matched two of the three men.

All three were taken to the police headquarters for further interviews. Based on information gathered during the interviews, the police arrested all three men for the burglaries.

Based on the information gained, officers got a search warrant for Bartels trailer and storage shed, a car and the storage shed at 3101 West Sixth Street.

Officers located three pickup trucks worth of stolen property including a welder, a generator and much more stolen property including an amplifier, speakers, check books, air compressor, skill saws, drills, pressure washers, band saw, complete tool boxes, reciprocating saw, portable air tank, trolling motor, jacks, bolt cutter, binoculars, shotgun shells, binoculars, tackle box, battery chargers, outboard motor, weed eater and a lawn mower, to name just a few.

In all, officers loaded three pickups, two vans and two cars with stolen property. The complete inventory sheets, which listed all the stolen property, were 13 pages long.

Officers believe the burglary ring may have attempted more than 50 burglaries during the five-week crime spree.

The affidavit said Bartels, who served 1-1/2 to 3 years in prison for theft out of Lincoln County in 2005, had been arrested five times in 2008. Three of the arrests were for thefts, one was for domestic assault and the other was possession of marijuana.