Justin William Benner, 33, and Sandra Lynn Wideman, 54, both of Cedar Hill, have been charged for allegedly breaking into a home and stealing a safe that had four guns stored inside it. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office recovered three of the four stolen guns, court records show.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on March 10 charged Benner with second-degree burglary and three counts of stealing a firearm, all four charges are class D felonies. The Prosecuting Attorney’s Office on March 26 charged Wideman for the same crimes, according to court documents.
However, the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has asked the court to consider Benner’s alleged crimes to be class C felonies due to him being a persistent offender, court records said. A class C felony is punishable by three to 10 years in prison. A class D felony is punishable by up to seven years in prison.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Steven Jerrell is prosecuting the case against Benner, and assistant prosecuting attorney Maren Biermann is prosecuting the case against Wideman.
Benner was arrested on Monday, April 21, and he was being held on a $50,000 cash-only bond at the Jefferson County Jail in Hillsboro, court documents said.
Wideman had not been arrested as of Monday, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Grant Bissell said.
Benner and Wideman were allegedly seen in surveillance video from Nov. 10, 2024, stealing items from a home in the 10 block of Oakview Drive in Cedar Hill while the man who lived there was away. Benner allegedly stole a safe that had four guns and clothing stored inside it, the case’s probable-cause statement said.
Benner was located by the victim on Nov. 13, 2024, and Benner was allegedly wearing some of the stolen clothes. Deputies responded to where the two men were at and seized the clothing, the report said.
Sheriff’s Office detectives also learned that Benner stored the stolen guns at a home in the 6600 block of Valley Drive in Cedar Hill. On Nov. 26, 2024, the detectives allegedly found three of the four stolen guns in a duffle bag next to Benner’s clothing in the home’s laundry room, according to the report.
Detectives spoke to Wideman on Dec. 12, 2024, and she allegedly said she did go to the home with Benner who told her that he was retrieving items that belonged to him. She said they entered the house through the front door and Benner had her take a laundry basket with clothing in it out of the house, the report said.
Wideman also allegedly said Benner stole the safe, according to the report.
On Dec. 24, 2024, Benner allegedly told detectives that it was Wideman’s idea to go to the home. He also allegedly admitted to stealing the safe, which he said was loaded onto a friend’s pickup that was seen in surveillance video, the report said.
Benner said his friend opened the safe, and the two split what was found inside it, according to the report.
Bissell said that as of Monday, the person Benner said opened the safe had not been arrested or charged for a crime.
Court records show in September 2023 that Benner pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for each charge, but the sentences were suspended and he was placed on five years’ probation.
Court documents also show that Wideman was on probation at the time of the alleged burglary. She had entered an Alford plea in September 2022 after being charged for knowingly starting a fire or causing an explosion in May 2021 in Jefferson County. A Jefferson County judge suspended the imposition of a sentence in that case, and Wideman was placed on five years’ probation, court records said.