A rural Mountain Home man, 47-year-old Lee Edward Willie, was taken into custody Friday afternoon after he was found behind the wheel of a vehicle reported stolen Thursday.
Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says the pickup truck valued at $3,000 was reported stolen from an address on Awesome Lane. The victim told investigators Willie asked him Wednesday to use the truck, and he declined. The victim discovered the vehicle missing the following day and reported the incident.
Friday afternoon, the stolen vehicle was spotted being driven on State Highway 5 North near Baxter County Road 27. The Sheriff’s office was alerted, and deputies moved to intercept. The vehicle continued to Baxter County Road 25. Deputies located the vehicle and made a traffic stop shortly after 1:00 and found Willie driving the vehicle.
He was arrested and taken into custody. Willie was found to be a parolee, and he also had drug paraphernalia in his possession.
Willie was transported to the Baxter County Detention Center and booked on felony charges of theft of property involving a motor vehicle, possession of drug paraphernalia and a parole violation.
He has a bond of $7,500 on the new charges, but is being held without bond for the parole violation. Willie is set to appear before the Baxter County Circuit Court next month.
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