Man charged with 9 felony grand thefts charges for allegedly accessing victim’s account

ST. ANTHONY — A Fremont County man is facing nine felony grand theft charges after allegedly stealing as much as $230,000 from a local woman.

Tyler Sleeper, 27, of Chester was arrested in early May and booked into the Fremont County Jail. He was given a $200,000 bond.

Court records show on May 1, a Fremont County woman tried to withdraw money from her savings account. However, Westmark Credit Union bankers told her she had insufficient money in her account for the transaction. She received documentation from the bank, which showed large sums of money being transferred electronically via Western Union to Sleeper.

There were nine total transactions each of $2,000 between March and May 2018, totaling around $18,000.

The victim also identified about $104,000 that was electronically transferred to a different bank account and PayPal transfers totaling more than $25,000. An exact number was unavailable.

In total, the victim told police she was missing about $230,000.

The woman had never met Sleeper, but she later determined he had been inside her home when she had hired a crew to pack and move her belongings in January, according to court documents. She believed Sleeper had found a binder with all of her banking and personal information.

A search warrant was issued for Sleeper’s home in Chester. He was on probation at the time of his arrest.

If Sleeper is found guilty, he could receive one to 20 years in state prison and a fine of up to $10,000.