A 29-year-old local man accused of battering a Pocatello woman last month has now been charged with multiple felony and misdemeanor charges in Bingham County, according to police and court records.
Cody Gene Anson, of Pocatello, has been charged with two counts of burglary and one count of injury to jail property, all felonies, for an incident on Dec. 22 at the Walmart in Chubbuck. He also faces misdemeanor charges of petit theft, providing false information to law enforcement and unlawful entry in Bingham County.
The incident on Dec. 22 began to unfold around 2:30 p.m. when Blackfoot police received the report that a man, later identified as Anson, had stolen items from the store and left, police said.
Upon arrival, the officer observed Anson attempting to enter black pickup truck in the Walmart parking lot that did not belong to him, police said.
The officer detained Anson, who said he had a buddy elsewhere in the parking lot waiting for him near a white Ford pickup truck, police said.
Near the white Ford pickup truck, the officer came into contact with a Walmart employee. The employee said Anson entered the store, walked to the back area marked for Walmart associates only, put on an employee vest and nametag, grabbed a price ticket gun and walked out into the retail area of the store, police said.
When the Walmart employee found Anson in the store to confront him, Anson was wearing a white pair of snow pants that were stolen from inside Walmart, police said.
Anson immediately took off running out of the store and into the parking lot, police said. In the parking lot, Anson stopped at the white Ford pickup truck and stashed the snow pants and employee vest, but the officer could not find the price ticket gun, police said.
Anson said that he was trying to blend in after leaving Walmart so he removed a car jack from a Honda Accord in the parking lot and pretended to change the vehicle’s tire, police said.
The officer was able to find the owner of the Honda and located the price ticket gun on the vehicle’s front passenger seat, police said.
Anson was charged with two counts of felony burglary, as well as two misdemeanors for petit theft and providing false information to law enforcement. He was subsequently arrested and transported to the Bingham County Jail in Blackfoot.
While in the back of the police car, Anson allegedly destroyed a camera system located in the backseat area in an attempt to hang himself with the camera’s wires, police said. Anson was then charged with felony injury to jail property. The misdemeanor unlawful entry charge stems from a separate incident in Bingham County on Dec. 19, according to court records.
Anson is set to appear at a preliminary hearing in Bingham County for three felony charges on Jan. 6.
If convicted of all the charges against him, Anson faces over 25 years in prison and more than $110,000 in fines.