WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Two men with criminal records face new charges after their arrests for a stolen trailer leads to a SWAT team warrant and search of a home in the Indian Heights neighborhood of Wichita Falls.
Aaron Johnston of Iowa Park and Jeremy Sides of Wichita Falls are charged with theft over $2,500. Both have more than 10 previous arrests.
On Saturday, May 27 a Wichita County deputy saw two pickups and a 14-foot dump trailer parked in the Wichita East fire station parking lot on Highway 79. When he stopped to investigate he said Johnston was selling the trailer to another man at the scene. The deputy said the other man asked him to run a check on the trailer before he paid for it, and the trailer came back as stolen from Wichita Falls.
Another man, Sides exited one of the pickups and the deputy determined he was with Johnson.
During their investigation, deputies said they obtained information about possible fraudulent activity at a home in Indian Heights.
A search warrant was served by the WFPD SWAT team there and evidence was seized. Three people at the location were found to have unrelated arrest warrants and were arrested.
The investigation into the case continues and information will be given to the DA’s office.
Johnston has eight criminal cases now pending in Wichita County, including two burglaries of buildings. He also has a conviction for hindering creditors with a pending motion to revoke the probation. That case involved a pickup he owned payments on that was involved in a wreck. The bank said it notified Johnston he was behind on payments and that the truck would be repossessed if payment was not received and warned him not to part out the truck after they learned he was offering parts of it for sale on social media.
Police said Johnston told a repo man looking for the truck “Good luck” in finding it.
Johnston also has a pending charge of soliciting prostitution from 2022 after he was arrested in a DPS sting. The year before that Johnston was arrested in another DPS sting set up to purchase an illegal weapon and possible stolen items.
Agents set up a recording device and also surveillance at the location and said a modified pistol-grip shotgun with a barrel length of less than 18 inches was purchased from Johnston, along with another item.
