Jerry Dean Hopper, Jr., of rural Mountain Home, who barricaded himself in his home after leading law officers on a high speed chase in early February last year, was talked out of the house by a friend, then arrested and taken to Paragould to face criminal charges there, pled guilty to charges filed against him in this county during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
The 43-year-old Hopper was sentenced to four years probation on fleeing charges.
In March, Hooper was sentenced to 48 months probation in Greene County on charges of terroristic threatening and first degree stalking. The Greene County charges stemmed from alleged threats Hopper made to his ex-girlfriend who lives in Paragould in the northeastern corner of the state. According to Greene County court records, Hopper sent the woman e-mails containing threats to kill her, along with an unidentified male and himself. He is also alleged to have come to her place of employment with a gun. In one of the e-mails, Hopper wrote that he hoped his face was the last one the woman saw.
The woman told Paragould police that Hopper’s activities put her in fear for her life.
The Baxter County charge is related to a high-speed chase in early February last year. A Baxter County Sheriff’s Office investigator received a tip that Hopper, who had an outstanding warrant issued by the Paragould Police Department, was at a local pawnshop and the investigator was provided with a vehicle description. The investigator spotted Hopper and attempted to stop him but Hopper, who was driving a dark blue 2004 Jeep Cherokee, fled. The car chase began on State Highway 5 South, then proceeded onto the Sheid-Hopper Bypass and finally went east on U.S. Highway 62/412
Officers reported that during the chase, speeds reached in excess of 100-miles-per-hour.
The chase ended at a residence four miles east of Mountain Home where Hopper jumped out of his vehicle, ran into the house and barricaded himself in the residence. Law officers said that he was reported to be armed with a handgun. Hopper could be seen leaning out of a window of the residence screaming obscenities and urging police to shoot him.
He was talked out of the residence and into surrendering by Doug Small, an officer with the State Game and Fish Commission, who is acquainted with Hopper. Small was able to diffuse the volatile situation after Hopper let him into the house where the two spoke face-to-face. No shots were fired and no one was injured in the incident.
After the chase, Hopper was initially jailed in Baxter County where he was picked up by Greene County authorities to face charges there.
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