Smith sentenced to prison for break-ins

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Travis Smith, who lists an address in Tulsa, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea to charges stemming from burglaries at two local businesses early this year and was given five years in prison, followed by five years probation during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.

Judge Gordon Webb said that restitution in the cases has not yet been determined.

The 35-year-old Smith was charged with breaking into the J&J Convenience Store on Highway 62 East in Henderson on February 14th and Fred’s Fish House at 44 Highway 101 Cutoff five days later. He was also the subject of two manhunts before being captured.

In both cases, video surveillance cameras caught Smith in the act. At the convenience store, a single individual, later identified as Smith, can be seen driving to the business in a gray Jeep Compass. He is shown forcing the door to the store open and taking cigarettes and the drawer from the cash register before leaving.

He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, a facemask and shoes featuring what was described as a “particular reflective pattern”. Smith was also said to have been carrying two “particularly identifiable burglary tools”.

It was also determined from the convenience store video that the vehicle Smith was driving had Oklahoma license plates, although no numbers were visible.

On February 19th, deputies responded to the burglar alarm at Fred’s Fish House restaurant. Surveillance video at the restaurant shows the same vehicle as was seen during the earlier break-in at the convenience store. Again, Smith forced open the front door, went directly to the cash register and took what money he could find before fleeing the building. The person in the second break-in was dressed in a similar manner to the one involved in the convenience store robbery.

At the same time, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office reported commercial burglaries in that county with a similar pattern to those in Baxter County.

Law officers made their first face-to-face contact when Fulton County Sheriff Albert Roork, who was off-duty and traveling in his own personal vehicle on Highway 62 East near the Lake Norfork Inn, saw a vehicle he believed to be a match to the Jeep Compass involved in the burglaries in both Fulton and Baxter Counties. Roork was able to flag down the driver of the jeep as he was leaving the hotel. Once the Jeep was stopped and Roork identified himself as a law officer, Smith abandoned the vehicle and ran from the scene. Roork was able to identify Smith as the person driving the Jeep from photographs.

A manhunt was mounted, but Smith was not located at that time.

The abandoned Jeep contained stolen items seen on video footage during the Baxter County break-ins.

Several days later, Baxter County Sheriff’s Office investigators receiving a tip that Smith was at a residence along Foster Drive in Midway. When officers arrived at the scene, Smith fled through the back door of the home and ran into the woods.

The canine tracking team from the North Central Unit of the state prison system at Calico Rock was brought in and the dog tracked and locate Smith after about an hour. He was arrested and brought to the Baxter County Detention Center. At the time of his arrest, it was reported that, in addition to Baxter County, he could possibly be facing charges in Furlong County as well as Czars County, Missouri and in the State of Oklahoma.

Smith will receive credit for 119 days he spent in the Baxter County jail prior to entering his plea Thursday.

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