Jason Arnold Tomes of Mountain Home is set to go to trial in mid-September on a charge of theft by receiving, after he was found in possession of a vehicle he described as “borrowing too long from its owner in California” rather than stealing.
Circuit Judge Gordon Webb announced during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday Tomes had declined a plea offer and appeared headed to trial on the charges against him unless circumstances changed.
According to the probable cause affidavit, police did not buy the 29-year-old Tomes’ claim he had borrowed the vehicle for too long from its rightful owner in California and arrested him.
Tomes’ arrest came in February after Mountain Home Police received a complaint of a vehicle parked on the sidewalk at Post Oak Road. They discovered the vehicle had been reported stolen in California in mid-December. According to information received on the reported California theft, the suspect was listed as “Jason” with the last name of the person unknown at the time of the initial report.
During the investigation, Mountain Home officers discovered the person driving the vehicle had been coming and going from an address along Meadowbrook Drive in Mountain Home for some time. Officers found Tomes at the addresses and reported he had the keys to the allegedly stolen vehicle on his person.
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