Area man faces hefty restitution for gold, tool theft

A man accused of taking advantage of a Libby resident who gave him a helping hand was sentenced and ordered to pay nearly $14,000 in restitution after a March 4 court hearing.

Henry Mareman Yeadon, 47, pleaded no contest to a one felony count of theft on Nov. 6, 2023, in Lincoln County District Court. District Judge Matt Cuffe followed the terms of the plea deal, which called for a 5-year deferred sentence.

Yeadon must also pay $13,975 in restitution to the victim. Court fines and fees were waived after a request by public defender Ben Kolter. Yeadon received credit for serving 12 days in custody following the offense in November 2022.

"I promise, you'll never see me in here again," Yeadon said to Judge Cuffe. 

Cuffe remarked that the chance of Yeadon repeating criminal activity was minimal, according to a pre-sentence investigation by state Probation and Parole. Yeadon reported that he is employed.

According to a supplemental narrative by county Sheriff’s Office Deputy Derek Breiland, the case began in November 2022 when a Libby resident called and reported Yeadon had stolen some of his tools. The man said Yeadon was staying in his shop because he had nowhere to live and was working for him building furniture. The victim said he told Yeadon he needed to leave because he was breaking his stuff and stealing items from the shop.

The man told Deputy Breiland that the day after Yeadon left, he noticed tools and other items missing from his shop where Yeadon was living, valued at about $2,075. The man said he, “was going to let this go if Yeadon returned his property, but Yeadon hadn’t or made contact.”

According to Breiland’s narrative, Yeadon admitted to taking the tools by mistake and said he would return them within a week after speaking with the victim on the phone. Two weeks had passed and nothing was returned. 

Deputy Breiland reported he checked pawn shops and the tools hadn’t been pawned or sold on social media.

About three weeks later, Deputy Breiland spoke to the victim who reported more items stolen than he initially thought. They included two gold watches, multiple vials of gold, gold teeth and a router used for wood working. The estimated value was more than $15,000.

According to Breiland’s report, the items were kept in the same building Yeadon was staying in. The items were in the victim’s office, which Yeadon had a key for.  The victim said he had text messages from Yeadon admitting to taking the items by, “mistake,” along with pictures of the gold watches.

The victim said the watches were the most important to him because they were family heirlooms passed down for a few generations.