A Kaufman County man was sentenced to eight years in prison on Monday for stealing a truck and trailer that contained a California family’s worldly possessions worth over $350,000.
Judge Thomas West accepted the plea agreement reached by the McLennan County District Attorney’s Office and Brayden Lee Briggs, who pleaded guilty to theft of over $300,000, a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison.
According to court records, Briggs, 26, has past felony convictions for possessing a controlled drug and escaping arrest in a vehicle.
According to Briggs’ attorney, Bryan Cantrell, Briggs will most likely spend around a year in prison before being eligible for parole after receiving credit for approximately two years in jail.
According to an arrest affidavit, Briggs, Dylan Dale Briggs, and Makayla Marianne Kale were all detained on September 26, 2022, when a family migrating from California to Texas claimed that their Penske truck and cargo trailer had been taken from a motel parking lot in Bellmead.
Surveillance video, according to Bellmead police, showed a man exiting a Mazda and driving away with the truck and trailer.
Briggs and his two co-defendants were accused of taking the truck, trailer, and the family’s belongings, all worth an estimated $360,300.
Dylan Briggs pled guilty to felony theft in August and received a seven-year sentence. Kale is set to plead guilty this week in return for a 10-year prison sentence, according to court officials.