• Sheriff: ‘More arrests could be coming’

Two Texas men are in custody after a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office investigation into a reported ATM burglary and the theft of two vehicles in the Star Valley area. Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office responded to a bank in Thayne, Wyoming, in the early morning hours of February 2, 2025, after a commercial alarm notified the Sheriff’s Office Dispatch center of the burglary. A 911 call was also received from a person performing snow removal in the vicinity of the crime. 

Upon arrival, officers noted extensive damage to the ATM from the suspects tearing the safe door from the machine using tow hooks, chain and a Ford F-250 pick-up. The suspects made off with the cash cassettes and fled to an awaiting vehicle, abandoning the pick-up, which was quickly determined to be stolen from a residence in Afton, Wyoming. 

During the initial phase of the investigation, law enforcement received a report of another stolen Ford F-250 from a Thayne residence that same morning. A short time later, the truck was found stuck in the snow at a church a short distance from the bank.

The stolen vehicles and ATM were processed for evidence and investigators began seeking the source of the burglary tools and cell tower data for the Thayne area. 

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An officer from the Montpelier, Idaho Police Department contacted investigators on February 10, 2025, advising that their department had responded to a suspicious persons call on the evening of February 1, 2025, and believed that the call may be related to the ATM burglary. Investigators coordinated with Montpelier Police and identified two rental vehicles that were in the area and obtained video from local businesses in Montpelier. 

With this information, investigator applied for and obtained several search warrants for rental car information as well as call detail records from cellular phone carriers. The investigators were able to identity Billy Ray Jones Chavis, 24, of Fresno, Texas and Demarcus Rashawn Thomas, 33, of Houston, Texas, as suspects in the incident on February 2, 2025. Both men were extradited from Texas and are currently being held on $100,000 cash bonds after being charged with offenses related to the alleged ATM burglary and the stolen vehicles. 

Chavis was bound over to the District Court for arraignment after the Circuit Court ruled there was sufficient probably cause connection him to the case during a preliminary hearing on April 10, 2025, in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Thomas is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on April 18, 2025. 

In an interview with SVI, Lincoln County Sheriff, Shane Johnson, noted that this could be just the start of this story.

“We do believe there are more people involved so we are still working on this,’ he added. Johnson noted that there is a strong belief that the incident in Thayne and one involving another ATM burglary and vehicle thefts in Alpine in November of 2024.

“This is still an ongoing investigation,” he added. “We believe they are probably related, the same M.O., done the same way, we just have more evidence on the Thayne incident to charge for the crimes. We will continue to work on the Alpine incident and hopefully there will be more arrests in the future. We think they are related to some similar ATM burglaries throughout the country. The chance exists this is just the beginning of what’s going on with this group.  But, we are happy to bring them back here to be charged with the Thayne burglary. It’s been a lot of work. A lot of good work done by a lot of people.”