Just after midnight on Monday, a Missoula Police Department Officer responded to S. 6th St. W. for a reported vehicle theft in progress. The caller said there was a man outside of her home trying to steal her pop-up trailer. As the officer was responding to the location, dispatch notified him that the male suspect had gotten back into his vehicle and left the scene.

Eventually, the officer located the suspect vehicle and initiated a traffic stop on Prince Street. The officer inspected the hitch-ball on the vehicle. It had some fresh scratches on the metal that stood out against the otherwise dirty and rusty ball. Other officers who had gone to the trailer’s location also advised that the tires matched the tread pattern left at the scene.

The officer identified the male as 25-year-old Kirk Burdash. Burdash was taken into custody and the owner positively identified him as the person she saw trying to steal her trailer. Burdash was arrested and transported to the Missoula County Jail.

On Monday afternoon, Burdash appeared in Missoula Justice Court and Deputy County Attorney Carrie Garber provided the following statement.

“Since 2020, in Municipal Court, he has had 12 separate warrants,” Garber said. “He has a total of eight cases. Six of those are for theft and three involved trespass to vehicle. He also has driving while suspended and criminal trespass charges pending across the street.”

Garber said Burdash is apparently unable to support himself without stealing from the good citizens of Missoula County.

“In this particular case, the owner of the camper trailer observed him and a female attempting to hook the camper up to a truck,” Garber said. “The owner called 911 and the truck left because he wasn’t able to figure out how to hook it up. Officers were able to locate the vehicle and identified the people in it. The female who was in the vehicle said, ‘yeah, we were the ones trying to get the camper’. She thought that the defendant had permission, which is wholly untrue.”

Judge Alex Beal presided over the case and he set bond in the amount of $25,000 with a $5,000 hold. Burdash is currently being charged with felony attempted theft.

The information in this article was obtained from sources that are publicly viewable.

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