Yates changes plea to guilty

Tonya Yates, 37, of Sidney was in District Court Wednesday in front of District Court Judge Derek C. Weimer, for an entry of plea hearing on the charge of aiding consumation of a felony, a class IV felony.

In court, special prosecutor for the Sate of Nebraska, Doug Warner, read the allegations against Yates. Warner read that on May 21 2015, Yates was arrested in Logan County Colorado with Mindy Richmond for allegedly attempting to burglarize a home.

Warner went on to read to the court that upon release from Logan County Jail, Yates contacted law enforcement to inform them about burglaries that had taken place in Cheyenne County. At the time, Yates provided law enforcement officials rings that she said where taken from a burglarized home.

Warner said Yates provided a list of places the she and Richmond had burglarized, taking various items including jewelry and prescription drugs. Yates spent two days taking investigators around Cheyenne County showing them the houses that were burglarized.

Richmond was arrested on June 11, 2015 in Cheyenne County and was sentenced in July, to serve 25 to 50 years in prison on a charge of five class III felony burglary counts.

Yates was arraigned on July 12, where she entered a plea of not guilty.

In the plea hearing on Wednesday, Yates waived her rights to a trial and changed her plea by accepting the plea agreement and pleading guilty to the alleged charges.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 7 at 10:30 a.m., Yates was ordered to the probation office where they will begin preparations for a pre-sentenceing report.