A Cotter man, 57-year-old James Stout, has been arrested after allegedly using his elderly mother’s Facebook account to sell items reported stolen. His mother was a resident of a local nursing home at the time.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the victim of a break-in at a storage unit in Gassville contacted the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, after seeing several of her missing items on Facebook Marketplace. The items missing from the storage unit included an oak dining room table with 10 chairs, gun cabinet, a .410 shotgun, a .223 rifle, muzzle loader, iPad, laptop, bunk beds, oak buffet, swimming pool in the box, trampoline and a sectional sofa.
One of the items listed on the Facebook page for sale was a childs nebulizer unit. The victim provided the serial number for the nebulizer to investigators. Investigators sent a message to the Facebook page inquiring about the nebulizer. During the exchange of messages, Stout agreed to meet at a local business with the nebulizer, allowing them to view it, unaware he was meeting with sheriffs investigators.
When contact was made with Stout, the serial number on the unit was compared to the one provided by the victim, and they matched.
Stout allegedly told officers he had taken the nebulizer from a storage unit at the same facility as his unit. He claimed it had been taken from an abandon unit. Stout said he had spoken with the owner of the storage facility and was told if he found a unit with no lock, the unit was abandon and he could have the items inside.
Contacted by investigators, the storage facility owner said the account is absolutely not true.
Stout had other versions of how he came to have the victim’s property, but none had any merit.
He has been charged with a felony count of breaking or entering and four counts of theft of property. His bond was set at $7,500, and he was set to appear in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
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