Lewiston man facing charges after allegedly stealing seven rifles from condemned home

A Lewiston man will make his initial appearance in felony magistrate court today on seven felony counts of grand theft and one felony count of burglary for allegedly breaking into a residence on the 2500 block of 17th Avenue in Lewiston last October and stealing seven rifles.

Jacob N. Wantz, 28, posted a $5,000 bond that was set last week after he failed to appear May 13 for arraignment by Nez Perce County Magistrate Judge Michelle Evans. He was to be arraigned Tuesday, but his initial appearance was moved to today’s calendar.

The maximum penalty for grand theft in Idaho is 14 years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The maximum penalty in Idaho for burglary is 10 years in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Wantz will be arraigned by Nez Perce County Magistrate Judge Sunil Ramalingam.

Lewiston police say that during several days and nights last October, Wantz entered a condemned house at 2502 17th Ave. in Lewiston and, on some of those days, stole at least seven rifles from Dayrold C. Heckman. Heckman lived in a camper on the property, but used the condemned house to store his late mother’s property, court records said.

The house had been condemned after a fire there nine years ago. Heckman reported to police that 24 firearms were stolen out of a gun safe in the basement of the home. Heckman said the mostly World War II-era firearms had water damage in the stocks, but were worth about $24,000, court records said.

Heckman contacted police and detectives set up a trail camera on the property in October. Heckman reported to police that someone entered his camper and stole three .22-caliber rifles Oct. 25, court records said.

Heckman reported another burglary of his camper Oct. 28. He told police he went to breakfast Oct. 27 and drove up to Holiday Inn Express above his property, where he saw a man standing on a rock bluff watching his property below. Heckman then saw the door of his camper open, so he contacted the hotel manager to call the police. A housekeeper at the hotel later told police that she saw two men come out of the camper, get in a Ford pickup truck and leave, court records said.

Detectives searched the property with Heckman and discovered a Honda generator was missing. The Honda generator was not listed in the criminal complaint. Heckman found a black trash bag that had his property in it and mail belonging to Wantz near the entrance of the property, court records said.

Police then learned Wantz sold or pawned two air rifles and a .22-caliber air rifle to Steve’s Pawn Shop in Spokane, according to court records. Police then interviewed Wantz at his home and he admitted to police “he stole the pellet/air rifles that he sold to Steve’s Pawn Shop from the basement of Heckman’s house,” court records said.

Wantz at the time denied stealing any other firearms, but then “voluntarily lead Detective (Brian) Erickson to a large red barn on his property and turned over several rifles and a bag of ammunition that he stole from Heckman’s residence,” court records said.

Police said that most of the firearms had water damage and were rusty. Wantz told police he “decided to steal the guns because he didn’t have a job and had two children to support,” court records said.

“Wantz reported he did not have a job and was desperate for money. Wantz claimed he didn’t intend to steal anything on Heckman’s property until he saw things walking around and thought he could make some money off of them,” court records said.

Wantz said he did not know Heckman lived on the property, though he told police Heckman gave him permission to be on the property to look for motorcycle parts. Heckman told police he did not know Wantz and he did not give him permission to be on the property, court records said.

“Wantz entered the house and stole (seven) firearms from the basement,” court records said. “Wantz demonstrated that he intended to deprive Heckman of any property he deemed to have value or could sell for financial gain and most likely would not have been identified as a suspect had he not inadvertently left a bag of his trash behind during one of the thefts.”

Wells may be contacted at mwells@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2275.