Alleged cross-dressing burglar in court

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Joshua Aaron Long of Mountain Home made a first appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday on charges filed against him stemming from a bizarre incident allegedly involving cross dressing, possession of sex toys and other paraphernalia too graphic to describe, and for breaking into a house and apparently using the residence to carry out some of his activities.

He is charged with residential burglary, criminal trespass, theft of property, 2nd degree criminal mischief and disorderly conduct.

Long told Judge John Putman he is in the process of hiring a lawyer to defend him and was ordered to reappear in court July 27th.

Since being taken into custody, the 36-year-old Long has taken to social media to express his criticism of local media reports based on a Gassville Police Department incident report which laid out the alleged events leading to Long’s arrest.

The incident began when a Gassville police officer was dispatched to an address along Smith Lane shortly before 11 p.m. July 7th to answer a complaint regarding an intruder. The call came from a husband and wife who own the home along Smith Lane. The wife reported the couple had been coming to the area on weekends to repair damage done by former tenants who rented the residence. She said, however, they had been unable to make the trip for about three weekends.

The wife told the police the couple had been shocked to encounter a half naked man in the residence wearing a wig partially attached to his head, along with a black bra with pink tassels, and black female underwear. It appeared the intruder had gained access to the residence by way of a broken window on the left side of the doorway.

The victims reported to police the intruder had emerged from a bedroom, stumbled around and “awkwardly” put on a pair of jeans and work-type boots. The wife said the suspect ran out the back door and fled to the neighbor’s back yard. The wife said she was able to get a good look at the man and would be able to positively identify the suspect. She told police the man had taken the wig off as he was in the process of fleeing the residence. Officers found the wig in the grass approximately six feet from the back porch.

The position of the wig indicated to officers that the intruder was headed toward the back yard of a neighboring residence.

The owners of the house showed police to a bedroom where various sex toys were located. In addition, a mirror had been affixed in a manner allowing a person on the bed to engage with the sex toys and watch the activity. In another bedroom, officers located more lingerie, wigs — both blonde and black — and dirty, wet clothing.

Police also found a cell phone in the home which the victims said did not belong to them. Officers went through the phone and found pictures. The picture of a male found on the phone was shown to the victims and the wife said the man was the one she had caught in her house. It was at this point that Long became a strong suspect.

The wife said she saw the man enter a building behind the main residence of the neighboring house. Police made contact with the tenant living in the house next door and she reported her “handyman” was in the bathroom of her resident. The neighbor said she did not know if the handyman had been outside during the time the encounter at the house next door took place.

Police were given permission to check the shed the man had allegedly entered and found a black bra with pink tassels in the floor directly to the left of the doorway. The garment was described in the police report as the same one worn by the suspect when the couple next door encountered him.

When police talked to the handyman — now identified as Long — he denied leaving the residence where he was working or being in the home next door which he once referred to as “abandoned.”

In a separate, earlier report, a person identified as Long’s wife also provided information to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office regarding what she considered “suspicious behavior” on her husband’s part. The 36-year-old woman reported she had found many “sexual things” around her house including women’s underwear, wigs, and masks. According to the report, she said her husband kept a padlock on a shop building where she was not allowed. She reported one day she broke into the shop and found what she described as a “porn studio.”

The woman reported she had also found more underwear and pornographic material in their children’s tree house. She said she believed her husband might have allegedly been stealing women’s underwear from houses where he did odd jobs.

Long is currently free on $50,000 bond. As a condition of his bond, he is to have no contact with the owners of the Smith Lane residence.

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