Husband and wife sentenced

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    A man and wife were both sentenced in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday — one to prison and the other to probation and time in a Community Corrections Center.

    35-year-old Michael Howard and 32-year-old Keturah Sanders-Howard both pled guilty to charges filed against them. Michael Howard was given four years in prison on theft of property and failure to register as a sex offender charges, and was also ordered to pay $800 restitution. Keturah Sanders-Howard was given five years probation and ordered to spend 12 months in one of the Community Corrections Center in the state on theft of property charges. She was also ordered to participate in the payment of the $800 in restitution.

    Both Michael and Keturah Sanders-Howard were arrested on their latest charges following a report made to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office August 25th in which the victim said a storage unit he rented in Gamaliel had been broken into and various items taken.

    Another report was made September 20th of a break in at an RV in which a number of person items were taken.

    Michael Howard and Keturah Sanders-Howard were developed as suspects. A unit at a storage facility on Buzzard Roost Road was tied to the couple and a number of items in the unit were identified by the victims as belonging to them.

    Investigators were able to obtain arrest warrants for Michael Howard and Keturah Sanders-Howard October 13th and the pair were picked up a week later.

    Ironically, certain of the items stolen at both the Gamaliel storage facility and the RV belonged to two people who themselves have active criminal cases in Circuit Court.

    The failure to registered as a sex offender against Michael Howard is one of many filed against him — generally stemming from him moving from one address to another without reporting the change to law enforcement agencies as required.

    At one point, court records indicate that Michael Howard had not come to the Mountain Home Police Department for a required “compliance assessment” because he said he “did not have a driver’s license, he was tired, his mother was asleep and it was raining out”.

    He was required to register as a sex offender after being convicted of felonious restraint and unlawful use of a weapon in Missouri in 2003.

    Michael Howard has had a number of criminal charges filed against him in Baxter County. He also had criminal charges lodged against him in Boone County when he escaped from a vehicle being driven by a Baxter County Deputy. At the time, Howard was being returned to this county from Fort Smith when he was able to open the door to the vehicle in which he was being transported, slip out at a stoplight in Harrison and flee on foot still wearing his handcuffs.

    According to court records, Michael Howard went to a nearby home improvement store and was able to cut his handcuffs off with tools in the store. He also took the deputy’s cellphone. Boone County authorities were able to apprehend him approximately an hour-and-a-half after he first gained his freedom. He was sentenced to 36 months probation on charges of 3rd degree escape, theft of property and criminal mischief in mid-September 2012.




   

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