{"id":797516,"date":"2019-07-10T16:44:30","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T22:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=368613"},"modified":"2019-07-10T16:44:30","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T22:44:30","slug":"breckenridge-ski-thief-gets-4-year-deferred-judgement-and-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/breckenridge-ski-thief-gets-4-year-deferred-judgement-and-sentence\/","title":{"rendered":"Breckenridge ski thief gets 4-year deferred judgement and sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Thomas Edward Yacko<\/strong>
Breckenridge Police Department<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

BRECKENRIDGE \u2014 Thomas Edward Yacko, 33, who was arrested earlier this year after stealing thousands in ski and snowboard equipment, received a four-year deferred judgment and sentence after pleading guilty last month to the thefts.<\/p>\n

Breckenridge Police Department officers began investigating a number of ski and snowboard thefts<\/a> at and around Breckenridge Ski Resort in January. As more reports started to roll in, detectives eventually took aim at Yacko, who was attempting to sell high-end skis on the secondary market.<\/p>\n

Officers responded to a report of a theft at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge in late January after a man reported the Black Crow Camox Freebird touring skis he rented were stolen, according to police reports. In February, another person claimed their Atomic Bent Chetler skis were stolen from a locker room in The Maggie building.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 27, officers made contact with an employee at the ski area who said Yacko approached him to try to sell him skis. According to the report, the man said Yacko showed him pictures of \u201ca bunch of skis\u201d and six to seven snowboards he was attempting to sell for $200. The man also said Yacko told him he had \u201cbeen walking around town at night picking them up,\u201d which Breckenridge police later called \u201ca crime of opportunity.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

On March 6, an informant contacted Yacko and purchased a pair of Atomic Bent Chetler skis for $150, according to the report. The skis were positively identified as the same pair reported stolen in February.<\/p>\n

Detective Justin Polidori, along with other Breckenridge officers, executed a search warrant on Yacko\u2019s Breckenridge home March 18, recovering 10 pairs of skis, 10 snowboards, 13 sets of goggles, six pairs of snowboard bindings, eight pairs of gloves, three helmets and more. The Black Crow skis reported missing in January were among those recovered.<\/p>\n

Yacko was arrested later that day at Beaver Run Resort, where he worked. During the arrest, officers discovered Yacko also had an active warrant for failure to appear on a previous traffic offense.<\/p>\n

Yacko pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor theft charges and was sentenced by Judge Edward Casias last month. He received 15 days in jail on the misdemeanor charge and a four-year deferred judgment and sentence on the felony. Additionally, Yacko was ordered to pay more than $3,000 in assessed fines and costs and is required to perform 120 hours of public service.<\/p>\n

District Attorney Bruce Brown said if crimes such as ski equipment theft continue to be an issue around the area, his office might begin slamming offenders with harsher punishments to deter others from committing similar crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese serial thefts appear to be a recurring problem,\u201d Brown said. \u201cMaybe the approach that I\u2019ve taken in the past to resolving those cases, which is more of the holistic variety, needs to turn more punitive. I don\u2019t have a lot of tools to deter crimes, but one of the tools that I have is if you commit a crime that is a recurring community issue, we need to hold you accountable for felony offenses and impose a more punitive jail sentence. That\u2019s probably what you\u2019re going to be seeing here in the coming weeks and months. Mr. Yacko\u2019s more lenient sentence may be a thing of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yacko addressed his involvement in the crimes directly in a letter to the editor<\/a> he wrote the Summit Daily News earlier this month, apologizing for his actions and for damaging what he called the \u201cculture of freedom\u201d we enjoy in Summit County.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the community, I took the trust, safety and reputation offered in Summit County, and I broke it,\u201d Yacko wrote. \u201cThat is something that cannot be measured in a financial amount, and I hope that my apologies will at least make an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colleen Goettelman, a spokesperson with the Breckenridge Police Department, said the department already has returned most of the stolen equipment they were able to match with victims. For those who haven\u2019t had their gear returned, there are other options.<\/p>\n

The Fifth Judicial District Attorney\u2019s Office offers compensation for victims through the Snow Sport Equipment Theft Restitution Fund<\/a>, a program set up about six years ago as part of a settlement on a similar case. Individuals who have had snow sport equipment stolen in Summit, Clear Creek, Eagle and Lake counties and haven\u2019t already received full compensation for their loss can apply through the District Attorney\u2019s website, DA5.us<\/a>. Brown said the fund has paid out about 25 claims this year, averaging about $400 each.<\/p>\n

\n<\/figure>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Edward YackoBreckenridge Police Department BRECKENRIDGE \u2014 Thomas Edward Yacko, 33, who was arrested earlier this year after stealing thousands in ski and snowboard equipment, received a four-year deferred judgment and sentence after pleading guilty last month to the thefts. Breckenridge Police Department officers began investigating a number of ski and snowboard thefts at and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-797516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 18:33:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797516\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}