Bud Hut manager jailed as cohort in robbery

Jeremy D. West, 45, Troy, Idaho, was booked into jail here at 9:33 a.m. Monday on a probable charge of first-degree theft. West was the clerk at the Bud Hut marijuana store on the Moscow-Pullman Highway who reported he had been robbed the previous Monday morning. He reported a man wearing a mask and carrying a pistol came in to the shop around opening time last Monday morning and demanded cash.

West was brought to jail here from Latah County where he was held on an arrest warrant. He had been arrested at his home in Troy, Idaho. He waived extradition rights and was transferred to the jail here.

Sheriff Brett Myers Monday filed an extended arrest affidavit in which he explained how the first suspect in the Bud Hut investigation gave an account which appeared to have inconsistencies.

The sheriff's report said they subsequently learned from several sources that West had allegedly told friends and former employees that he had been taking funds from the Bud Hut and that it needed to be "robbed or burned down" to cover the shortage which was said to be in the range of $20,000.

Kody M. Schneider, 21, Moscow, who was charged with first degree robbery April 9. Schneider is charged with entering the Bud Hut marijuana shop on the Moscow/Pullman Highway. He is alleged to have been wearing a mask and carrying a handgun.

The suspect reportedly used zip ties on West and then took West's 2002 Chevrolet Trailblazer from the Bud Hut. The Trailblazer was found three miles away on the Sunset Road.

The report said Pullman Officer Don Heroff, who responded to reports of a stolen van, observed a woman driving a silver Ford Escape on the Old Moscow Road. Heroff stopped the car to inquire if they had seen the Trailblazer taken from the Bud Hut. While talking to the woman driving the car he noticed a male laying down in the back of the Escape.

Heroff used his body camera to photograph the driver, and when he later showed the pictures to Moscow officers, one of them was able to identify the driver who resided in a mobile home on the Palouse River Road.

The arrest report said several officers went to the mobile home where they located Schneider and received permission to search the residence from him and, by telephone, from his mother. After a preliminary search, the officers decided to exit the home and obtain a warrant for an extensive search.

The report alleged officers located a 9 mm pistol, zip ties, $2,000 in cash and a bus ticket which had been purchased the day before.

Schneider was arrested and jailed at Moscow on Monday night, and the robbery charge was filed Tuesday by Senior Deputy Prosecutor Merritt Decker. Schneider waived his extradition rights and was brought to the jail here and booked last Wednesday night, April 10.

According to the affidavit filed with West's arrest, they began to get information on West's alleged role in the robbery while interviewing Schneider's mother, Heidi Canchola.

She told them she was a long-time friend of West, and he confided to her and her son, Schneider, that the Bud Hut "needed to be robbed." She recalled the topic had come up as early as last Christmas.

Canchola said on the morning of the robbery, she actually drove her son out to the Bill Chipman Trail and dropped him off near the Alpine Animal Clinic.

She also told the sheriff her son was easy to manipulate.

The sheriff's affidavit said officers have obtained telephone records which show a series of calls between West and Schneider including one that extended for about five minutes at 10:30 p.m. on the night before last Monday morning when Schneider is believed to have walked into the Bud Hut wearing a mask and packing a pistol.

The sheriff also noted West's initial report of the robbery alleged he had turned over a stack of $20 bills which measured approximately 10 inches in height.

The $2,000 in cash found at Canchola's trailer and the bus ticket which was allegedly purchased by Schneider with $20 bills amount to the missing funds at this stage of the investigation.