Hawthorne teen gets jail, probation

A Hawthorne man will spend six months in jail and four years on probation for his part in a string of burglaries in Douglas County this spring.

Jesse James Budreau, 18, pleaded no contest to two counts of theft and one count of burglary, all as a party to a crime, in Douglas County Circuit Court last week. He also pleaded no contest to one count of battery as a party to a crime stemming from a separate case. He was sentenced to six months of probation for one theft charge. The other netted him four years of probation consecutive to the jail sentence. He was ordered to undergo chemical dependency and psychological evaluations, have no contact with the victims or their residences, provide a DNA sample and pay $62 restitution along with $268 in fines and court costs. He was sentenced to two years of probation concurrent for the battery charge with three days jail, $297 in restitution and $243 in court costs ordered.

An additional count of burglary was dismissed but read in for sentencing. One additional count of theft and one count of burglary-arm self with a dangerous weapons, both as a party to a crime, were dismissed.

Budreau is one of four teens accused of stealing gas, change and more in a rash of thefts in the towns of Oakland, Superior, Lakeside, Amnicon, Summit, Parkland and the village of Poplar in April and May. The majority of the thefts were from garages, utility buildings, sheds and vehicles. The other three teens facing charges for the incidents are Nathan Edward Birkholz, 18, of South Range, Anthony Devere Seaberg, 18, of Superior; and Brian Mathias Lind, 17, of Maple.

All three of them are expected to appear in court later this month.

According to the criminal complaints:

When questioned, the teens admitted to breaking into garages and cars searching mainly for gas and change. Birkholz told Douglas County Sheriff’s Detective Brad Hoyt that they would take cans of gas, fill their tanks and then toss the can. Seaberg said the teens targeted places at random and never broke into a locked place. He said if people did not close their garage door, they were asking to be broken into.

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