Accused thief smashes into a Montana gun store with stolen excavator, feds say
A man from Billings, Montana, faces five years in prison after admitting to breaking into a firearms store with a construction excavator and stealing multiple guns, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Erik Stephen Deaner, 46, knew he was prohibited from possessing firearms due to his prior criminal history, but he still wanted them because he “liked firearms,” according to court documents obtained by McClatchy News.
Last October, Deaner was accused of breaking into Castle Arms, a federally licensed firearms shop in Yellowstone County, Montana, by tearing through a section of the wall and back door with a stolen construction excavator.
The excavator came from a nearby construction site, officials said in a Department of Justice release. The construction site employees told officials the cab of the excavator was locked and no keys were missing. However, the excavator had a universal key, allowing anyone with a manufacturer’s key to access it.
After tearing through the wall of the firearms shop, Deaner “punched through a display case” to steal five pistols and one antique rifle, authorities said in court documents.
Court documents described the crime as a “very brazen and destructive way to steal firearms.”
Investigators said they used surveillance footage from the firearms shop on the night of the incident and employee descriptions of a man who had visited previously while “behaving oddly” to identify Deaner as a suspect.
At the time, Deaner had an active warrant for arrest, authorities said. Investigators visited Deaner’s home and, when he came outside, arrested him on the outstanding warrant. All six stolen guns were recovered from Deaner’s garage, officials said.
In December 2021, Deaner pleaded guilty to “theft from a federal arms licensee,” according to court documents.
On Wednesday,, June 22, Deaner was sentenced to five years and two months in prison followed by a three-year supervised release. The judge also ordered him to pay $1,000 in restitution.
Yellowstone County is about 130 miles northeast of Yellowstone National Park.
