Montana woman accused of stealing truck pleads guilty

A woman doing time in the Montana Women’s Prison on unrelated charges recently pleaded guilty to stealing a local man’s truck in 2019.

Jessie Louise Burns, 34, struck a deal with Lincoln County Attorney Marcia Boris in which she agreed to plead to felony theft in exchange for dismissal of a felony burglary charge.

On Oct. 17, Burns, appearing on video from the prison in Billings, entered her plea while defense attorney Scott B. Johnson appeared on her behalf in Lincoln County District Court.

The plea agreement calls for a 3-year sentence to a state Department of Corrections facility. No time would be suspended, but it would run concurrent with a 3-year term Burns received in 2016 in Yellowstone County for escape. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 5.

Burns, a Florida native, has a long criminal history with five convictions in Yellowstone County between 2015 and 2016, according to state prison records. Two are for criminal possession of dangerous drugs as well as bail jumping, criminal child endangerment and the previously mentioned escape charge.

Burns and a local man, 37-year-old Jeremy Charles Thorstenson, were accused of breaking into a cabin on Lakeshore Drive in November 2019, stealing some cash and other items, then stealing a pickup truck in an ill-fated attempt to travel to Mexico.

Thorstenson pleaded guilty to a single count of burglary in 2020 for his role in the crime and is currently doing time at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. He also has a 2008 conviction for criminal endangerment in Yellowstone County and a 2017 conviction in Lincoln County for assault with a weapon, according to state prison records.

According to a previous story in The Western News, authorities in Missoula County arrested Thorstenson on Nov. 15, 2019. According to court documents, Thorstenson admitted to entering the cabin earlier in the year and to stealing the owner’s truck with a female companion, later identified as Burns.

Authorities learned of the break-in after a state game warden came across the abandoned stolen truck near Clinton in Missoula County. The truck was stuck on a mountain road after being high-centered on a tree stump. The warden saw two sets of footprints in the snow leaving the truck and he also reported finding syringes along the path.

Tracking down the owner in Lincoln County, they then discovered the burglary. A bag containing a Montana state ID with Thorstenson’s identifying information was found inside a black backpack left with the abandoned truck along with other evidence, court documents said.

Law officers also learned from canvassing local businesses that a couple living out of a truck was frequenting the area. Using surveillance footage, deputies identified Thorstenson and another woman wearing a coat taken from the Lakeshore Drive home, court documents said.

Passing along his finding to authorities here, Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Bill Burt recalled Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office Detective Kirk Kraft telling him that Thorstenson was well known among law enforcement locally.

Burt later came across Thorstenson while on patrol, though he did not know it at first. At about 7:53 p.m., an adult male walked out in front of his vehicle, forcing him to stop, Burt wrote in his affidavit. Thinking the man needed help, Burt offered assistance. But the man said his car had just run out of gas, and then he pointed to an area the captain knew was devoid of roadways. Suspicions raised, Burt asked for an ID, he wrote in his affidavit.

The man identified himself as “Jacob” Thorstenson. Burt, though, had recognized him as the suspect in the stolen truck and Lakeshore Drive burglary case. Burt then arrested Thorstenson.

Authorities were unable to track down Burns at the time and believed she fled the area after Thorstenson’s arrest.

Burns’ criminal history includes a 2013 conviction for criminal child endangerment. According to a 2013 story in the Billings Gazette, Burns pleaded no contest to the charge after she waa arrested for driving drunk with her infant son in the vehicle. The child wasn't injured.

The account also reported Burns had a blood alcohol content of 0.24 when she crashed her vehicle near Lockwood. A woman said Burns was drinking alcohol at the scene. The woman said she checked a diaper bag for baby formula or diapers and found only a glass pipe, court records state.

Then, in late October 2019, according to a story on https://www.montanarightnow.com/, Burns was reported as a walkaway from the Great Falls Pre Release Center after leaving it for work. She never arrived at work and didn't return to the center.

Less than a month later, Burns and Thorstenson were in Lincoln County and accused of burglary and theft.