A man who stole a Cody couple’s vehicle from a parking lot last summer has been ordered to serve four to six years in prison.

Andre Bryson, a 29-year-old Casper area resident, pleaded guilty to a felony count of theft and was sentenced in Park County District Court last week. The sentence from Judge Bill Simpson followed a plea agreement struck between prosecutors and Bryson’s court-appointed attorney.

Charging documents say Bryson stole the 2004 Toyota Corolla from the Cody Walmart on the afternoon of Aug. 14. The owner told Cody police he’d left the keys in the parked vehicle’s center console while he went into the store.

The surveillance footage didn’t capture the moment when the thief entered the vehicle, but did show a man with a dog heading in the direction of the Corolla just before it was stolen.

Cody Police Officer Garret Rothleutner later identified the suspect as Bryson by using a selfie that Bryson had posted to Facebook; the photo of Bryson and his pit bull, which was posted just before the theft, matched the man and dog seen on the surveillance footage, the officer wrote in an affidavit.

In posting the selfie to the Cody Area Classifieds Facebook group, Bryson said he was looking for a place to sleep or odd jobs. He wrote he’d been left in Cody two days earlier and that “everything I own [was] stolen.”

Bryson stole the car from Walmart roughly two-and-a-half hours later.

On Sept. 22, Cody police learned that the Corolla was with a towing company in Cheyenne, after being located in Weld County, Colorado.

The car was ultimately deemed to be a total loss, said Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Eichele, as the cost of recovering and storing the Corolla exceeded its value; the vehicle reportedly had over 300,000 miles on the odometer.

Bryson had reportedly been driving the vehicle in Weld County, but he provided a false name to the deputy and claimed he’d borrowed the car from a friend. The deputy gave Bryson and his dog a ride to Fort Collins, Colorado, charging documents say.

Prosecutors obtained a warrant for Bryson’s arrest at the end of October, but he remained at large until January. That’s when he was arrested in Casper and transported back to Cody.

As a part of his sentence, Bryson must pay $1,645.53 in restitution to the Corolla’s owners, $408.11 to the Park County Sheriff’s Office to cover the cost of shuttling him back to Cody and $275 to the court.

The roughly two months he spent in jail before his April 10 sentencing will count toward his prison sentence.