UPDATE: 'Topless' woman faces charges for heavy equipment joyride

Traci Rosenbaum | Great Falls Tribune

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Heather Ann Houston, 34, was charged with four felonies and two misdemeanors after allegedly driving a stolen front-end loader through Great Falls and running it into an apartment building Sunday morning.

MORE: Police: Woman, topless, drives stolen front-end loader through town

According to the Great Falls Police Department’s probable cause affidavit, officers responded just after 8 a.m. to the Fox Hollow Apartments with a report of a female running a tractor into a building.

Officers detained Houston at the scene and interviewed a witness who stated the loader crashed into his window and Houston, who lived next door, climbed into her own apartment from the tractor, grabbed some clothes and was trying to leave before officers arrived.

GFPD told the Tribune after the incident that Houston was topless during her joyride, but the affidavit does not state whether or not she was wearing a shirt.

When told she could be charged with criminal endangerment, Houston told officers, “I was very careful and I nudged the bucket up to his (the neighbor's) apartment.”

Officers suspected the loader was stolen, and during their conversation, Houston allegedly told officers she had permission from the vehicle’s owner to use it.

After tracking down the loader’s owner, police determined Houston did not have permission and had stolen the piece of equipment from a business on Rainbow Dam Road.

Houston allegedly did over $1,000 in damage to the loader’s dashboard, $1,600 in damage to the apartment building and hundreds in damage to a church lawn she allegedly drove through on her way to the apartment. There was also damage to the front gate, fence and a pickup truck at the business where the loader was stolen, according to an affidavit from the Cascade County Sheriff’s Office.

Houston was charged with theft, criminal mischief and criminal endangerment, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor criminal mischief and criminal trespass to property. A $10,000 bond was requested in the case.

Reach Tribune Staff Writer Traci Rosenbaum at 791-1490. Follow her on Twitter @GFTrib_TRosenba.