When the officers approached Reinke’s trailer, Reinke padlocked it and ran away with another man. Billings police officers responded to help the probation officers.

The same Dodge pickup stopped previously was parked at the residence and Reinke had been accessing it when the probation officers showed up, Rubich said. A truck door was open and the probation officers searched the vehicle, he said.

The officers found two firearms — a Ruger .22 caliber semiautomatic rifle and a Browning .22 caliber lever action rifle. They also found a pair of bolt cutters and a scanner tuned to the BPD’s primary police channel.

ATF traced the two rifles as being registered to W.P., the same victim as in the 2013 burglary. W.P. had bought the rifles to replace the two that had been stolen. He had reported the two rifles were stolen from his residence on Nov. 20 in a second burglary.

Reinke told the judge he disputed the prosecutor’s statement that he was accessing the truck and that the date of the second burglary was Nov. 19, based on discovery information.

Reinke faces a maximum 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Watters ordered him to remain in custody and set sentencing for Feb. 8.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.