POCATELLO — A local man who plead guilty to burglary has been placed into the rider program.
Cody Abe Winterbottom, 32, was placed in the program with an underlying three- to eight-year prison sentence by 6th District Judge Robert Naftz at a sentencing hearing Monday.
A rider program is when a judge sends a person to prison for up to a year to undergo different treatment programs. When the inmate has completed the program, the judge can then decide to send them back to prison or release them on probation.
The guilty plea was part of an agreement with the Bannock County Prosecutor’s Office made in October. In exchange for his pleading guilty to a felony burglary charge, the prosecutor’s office dismissed a persistent violator enhancement against Winterbottom.
Winterbottom was found hiding inside the CAL Ranch store in Chubbuck by officers responding to a triggered alarm system.
Prior to locating Winterbottom, officers from the Chubbuck Police Department and Bannock County Sheriff’s Office described noticing several generators as being arranged and staged for a theft. The bay doors in the back of the store had been opened, triggering the alarm, and propped open with a generator in an unopened box.
After being released from jail, Winterbottom was again arrested for felony grand theft after stealing a vehicle in Idaho Falls.
Winterbottom reached a plea agreement in that case as well, pleading guilty to grand theft in exchange for the dismissal of a felony heroin possession charge, as well as misdemeanor charges for possession of paraphernalia and petit theft.
He received a rider with an underlying three- to 11-year prison sentence for that charge, as well as $1,245.50 in fees and fines.
The rider sentences for both crimes will be served concurrently.
For his burglary at the CAL Ranch, Winterbottom was ordered to pay $695.50 in fees and fines. The plea agreement also leaves him responsible for restitution payment, the amount of which will be determined at a later court date.