Burglary charge filed regarding antique theft from rural Syracuse

NEBRASKA CITY – 48-year-old Robert Wiley of Lincoln is charged in Otoe County with burglary, theft by taking and criminal trespassing on Sept. 2.

Court records say an Otoe County sheriff’s deputy observed a pickup truck with a full bed of items on Sept. 6 and made contact with Wiley, who said he had found metal in a ditch.

The deputy suspected that a box fan air  conditioner in the truck had been taken from a South Branch property west of Burr.

On further investigation, the deputy told the court, he inquired about a burglary at an old farmhouse in rural Syracuse, where antique items valued at over $10,000 were reported stolen, as well as a catalytic converter from a vehicle.

Wiley is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on Oct. 23 regarding the Syracuse farmhouse.