2 men can’t seem to stay out of court

Jason Tomes

Derek Garrels


Two men, Jason Tomes and Derek Garrels, wasted little time in being arrested on new charges and making return appearances in Baxter County Circuit Court.

The 29-year-old Tomes was set to go on trial this month on a charge of being in possession of a stolen vehicle, but before he could even make it into the courtroom for that trial, he was arrested on new drug-related charges Tuesday.

The charges include possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

In the probable cause affidavit of the original case, Tomes claims he had not stolen the vehicle, but only borrowed it “for too long” from its rightful owner in California.

Tomes’ arrest in the truck theft case came in February after Mountain Home police received a complaint of a vehicle parked on the sidewalk on Post Oak Road. The officers discovered the vehicle had been 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.

Tomes was booked into the Baxter County jail Tuesday on new drug-related charges.

Garrels of Flippin pled guilty and was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to the original charges against him during a court session the first of this month. The 26-year-old Garrels was stopped by Cotter Police officers in late April after the officers had been informed Garrels — a passenger in the vehicle — had an outstanding arrest warrant.

A search was undertaken during the stop. Officers located two syringes and a small plastic bag with a crystal-like powder in the center console. The material field tested positive for methamphetamine.

In Garrels’ most recent arrest just a few days ago, a Mountain Home police officer stopped a vehicle for driving left-of-center several times on Cardinal Street. James Tomes was listed as the driver during that incident, and Garrels was a passenger. A search of the vehicle turned up a white crystalline substance field testing for methamphetamine and a digital scale

In circuit court Thursday, Tomes was ordered to reappear September 13th and Garrels September 20th.

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