Two men arrested in gun theft

Two men arrested in gun theft

May 17, 2001

by Aspen C. Emmett
Journal Staff Writer

Two area men have been arrested in connection with a gun theft at the Little Bear Trading Company in Cortez late Tuesday afternoon.

Twenty-four-year-old Steven B. Helton of Mancos and Jeremy Senkevech, 21, of Cortez, were apprehended shortly after the incident in which a hunting rifle was taken from the wall behind a counter at Little Bear and out the door.

According to scanner reports, the two were arrested in Hartman Draw, west of the Maverik gas station, around 5 p.m. following a foot pursuit by law-enforcement officers.

Attempts to contact the Cortez Police Department about the incident were unsuccessful Wednesday and it is unclear what each individual’s alleged participation was in the theft.

Little Bear Trading Company owner Johnny Hargrove told the Journal three men entered the business at 220 W. Main St., and while one of the men was negotiating over pawning some items, the other two apparently managed to get ahold of the gun without anyone seeing them.

The gun, the owner said, was not easily accessible.

Hargrove said he was the only person working in the store at the time.

"I don’t know how they got it," he said. "I have no idea how they got it off the wall. There’s no way I could have got it."

However, Hargrove said he was able to retrieve the gun before the men were able to leave the premises.

"He snuck out with the gun and I just happened to see a black strap when he was walking out so I knew something was funny," Hargrove said.

"By the time I got outside, he was inside the vehicle and the weapon was lying on the floorboard in the back seat when I looked in the vehicle. He was saying it was his and I knew it wasn’t."

Hargrove said he reached into the vehicle and removed the gun just as the third man came out of the store, asking what was going on.

"I told them I was going in and calling the police," Hargrove said.

Helton and Senkevech were at the Montezuma County Jail as of Wednesday evening being held on $6,000 bonds for suspicion of theft.

Both are scheduled to appear in county court for formal charges Friday at 8:30 a.m.

Neither suspect has any prior convictions in Montezuma County, although Helton was charged with criminal mischief, resisting arrest and theft in a 1999 case. However, the charges were dismissed by the district attorney’s office.