Ex-Sidney man arrested in theft of fire truck

A former Sidney man faces theft charges after allegedly stealing a fire truck from the National Forest Service in Chadron.

Aaron Timmons, 25, was charged with theft by unlawful taking, a class III felony. Timmons previously lived in Sidney, but had moved to Moberly, Mo. He had recently returned to Nebraska to be a National Guardsman in Chadron.

He is being held on $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Cheyenne County Court for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 15.

According to court documents, Timmons allegedly stole the truck after midnight on Sept. 28 and drove to Sidney because of family issues he wanted to attend to here. He climbed over a fence at the Forestry Service, saw keys in the 2012 fire truck and drove it through the gate. He told police that he drove straight to Sidney.

The National Forest Service reported that the vehicle had been stolen by a National guardsmen who had gone absent without leave, or AWOL.

Sidney Police received a report that the fire truck had been spotted in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Sidney in the early morning hours on Sunday. Following an investigation, the fire truck was located in a gravel parking lot just north of the Motel 6 in Sidney.

The officer knew Timmons and made contact with another man who had seen Timmons and a woman he had been involved in a relationship with. Another man said that Timmons and the woman were at Legion Park in Sidney, where police found the couple and Timmons was arrested.

Timmons told police he had come to Sidney to protect his girlfriend, who he said had received threats from one of Timmons’ family members via Facebook.