Rashel Farnam-Albrecht of rural Mountain Home was given 10 years in prison, with an additional 10 years suspended on charges filed against her in three separate cases last year.
She was also ordered to pay almost $18,000 in restitution.
The sentence was pronounced following a hearing in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Farnam-Albrecht pled guilty to the charges in April with sentencing postponed until Monday. She had been offered six years in prison as part of a plea agreement, but chose to go before the court without any agreement on sentence and allow the judge to decide what punishment she would receive.
A pre-sentencing report was prepared for Judge Gordon Webb to review prior to making his decision.
Before her sentence was handed down, Farnam-Albrecht made a lengthy statement to the court in a bid for leniency. She said her run-ins with the law took place during a time she was on a “meth binge,” mixed with various prescription medications she was taking. She apologized for her acts, which she termed “barbaric” and said she was “ashamed of what I became” while on drugs.
The methamphetamine and other drugs turned her into “such a monster,” but she admitted she had done wrong while taking the drugs and could not take her actions back.
She went over at length her efforts to get off drugs and turn her life around, and said she had been successful in making significant changes for the better. She told the court she was “clean and sober” now and undergoing weekly drug testing. She said she is the mother of three children who needed her and is working.
Judge Webb said while he admired the efforts Farnam-Albrecht had made to leave drugs behind, he told her the crimes she had committed, had “hurt a lot of people,” including her relatives.
The judge said he had attempted to balance the progress Farnam-Albrecht had made in improving her life with the “serious nature” of the crimes she had committed, including making threats against the victims in the residential theft case.
Judge Webb said the victims in that case “have made their position very clear” and the court took that position into consideration in making its decision on sentencing. He said the punishment she was to receive “was a severe penalty for severe crimes.”
Fourteenth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge told the court the victims in the residential theft case “were not strangers, these were people who basically raised her.” He said the state believed she had been correctly charged, and it was time for Farnam-Albrecht to “face the laws of the State of Arkansas.”
The 31-year-old Farnam-Albrecht was charged with breaking into the home of relatives and stealing a number of items, altering the bill of sale on a 2001 pickup truck to make it appear the vehicle had been sold to her and, oddly, calling the police on herself resulting in her arrest for possessing methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest.
In the first case, the relatives reported the theft of a large amount of jewelry and other items valued in the thousands of dollars in late June last year. The items were taken from the relatives’ home along Old Military Road while they were away from the residence.
The victims named Farnam-Albrecht as a suspect, according to the probable cause affidavit.
When Farnam-Albrecht was brought in for questioning on the robbery, she was reported to have become irate and threatened to kill one or both of the relatives. Both victims took out protective orders to keep Farnam-Albrecht away from them.
In the case where Farnam-Albrecht was charged with altering the bill of sale on a pickup truck, investigators talked to the owner of the vehicle and discovered discrepancies in the bill of sale, including misspelled names. As evidence was uncovered, investigators were able to identify Farnam-Albrecht as the person responsible.
In the case where Farnam-Albrecht called the police on herself, court records indicate Mountain Home police officers were sent to a local park shortly after midnight July 16th last year. She was located and the officers reported she seemed to be under the influence of a substance of some kind.
At one point, Farnam-Albrecht asked to use the restroom. The officers would not allow her to carry her purse into the facility, but told her she could take what she needed out of the purse. The officers observed her retrieve a loaded syringe and spoon and attempt to conceal them. They moved in to restrain her, and she dropped the items.
Farnam-Albrecht was reported to have become very combative and resisted the officers, when they attempted to take her into custody. The officers deployed a Taser to get Farnam-Albrecht under control so they could handcuff her.
The substance in the syringe in Farnam-Albrecht’s possession field-tested positive for methamphetamine.
A somewhat reluctant Judge Webb allowed Farnam-Albrecht to remain free on bond until bed space opened in the state prison system. She will be required to continue wearing — and paying the cost for — an ankle monitor.
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