Man accused of opening gaming device with key and stealing money at North Platte liquor store

A man wearing silver shorts, a blue hoody, a hat and sunglasses walks into a liquor store. He walks out 11 minutes later, his pockets bulging and his shorts sagging.

No, it's not joke. It allegedly happened on May 12 at City Discount Liquors at Ninth and Jeffers streets. Left behind was a gaming cash box that had been emptied of its contents amounting to $7,769.

Timothy Caudillo, 39, of North Platte has been arrested and charged in the theft, and is incarcerated in Lincoln County Detention Center.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, the cash box appeared to have been opened by key. Caudillo was seen on a security camera entering the store at 2:37 p.m. and exiting at 2:48 p.m. He left in a white Ford service van with "Caudillo's Detailing" on the side.

Caudillo's girlfriend, Latosha Ryan, 35, of North Platte is also in the Lincoln County Detention Center.

Caudillo and Ryan are accused of taking a cash box and its contents amounting to $221, from a Skyriser arcade game at the south Fat Dogs on May 28. That is the same brand of game that was robbed at CDL 16 days earlier. The cash box is valued at $250, making the alleged theft at Fat Dogs a total of $471.

A surveillance camera recorded Caudillo and Ryan entering the store at 102 Holiday Frontage Road, at about 4:04 a.m., sitting at the gaming machine and leaving the store at 4:16 a.m. During that time the machine sent a message to the store that it had been opened and the cash drawer removed. The message was not noticed until later that morning. Ryan allegedly concealed the box in a purse that she was carrying.

On May 30 a witness told a police investigator that the couple had driven east on Interstate 80 upon leaving Fat Dogs and, while traveling, Ryan had thrown something out a window.

Subsequently the empty cash box was found adjacent to the highway near mile marker 178, about halfway between the two North Platte interchanges. Ryan later admitted to throwing the box out the car window.

On May 31, a police investigator searched the couple's residence at 1205 W. 11th St. with a warrant signed by Judge Joel Jay. The investigator found keys in a black bag in the couple's bedroom. The investigator took the keys to CDL and tried them in the belly door and the cash box of the gaming machine that had been robbed. The keys worked.

Caudillo and Ryan were both arrested that day. They each appeared before Judge Tanya Roberts-Connick on June 1 and are scheduled to appear in Lincoln County Court on Thursday for preliminary hearings.

Caudillo is charged with theft by unlawful taking — $5,000 or more, a class 2A felony. He is being held on $20,000 bail, 10% for that charge. He is also charged with theft be unlawful taking — $500 or less, third or subsequent offense, a class 4 felony. He is being held on $5,000, 10% bond for that charge. According to the affidavit, he has three prior theft convictions in 2017.

Ryan is charged with theft by unlawful taking — $500 or less, second offense, a class 1 misdemeanor. She is also charged with tampering with physical evidence, a class 4 felony. According to the affidavit, she has two prior theft convictions, in 2011 and 2012. She is being held on $10,000 bail, 10%.

The affidavit did not indicate how Caudillo and Ryan got ahold of the keys to the gaming devices.

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