A stolen truck, later abandoned, followed by a 30-minute pursuit by the K9 tracking team from the North Central Unit of the Department of Correction at Calico Rock has led to the arrest of 59-year-old Terry A. Johnson.
According to the probable cause affidavit filed Monday, the Izard County Sheriff’s Office was contacted just before 1:00 Saturday afternoon by a caller advising his brother’s truck had just been stolen. The caller said he was following the vehicle, and it had stopped at the Piney Creek Bridge on State Highway 56, a few miles east of Calico Rock.
The caller advised the driver of the truck appeared extremely intoxicated, having fallen several times attempting to retrieve a backpack out of the vehicle. He said the suspect had fled into the woods, dropping his backpack.
When officers arrived and inspected the contents of the backpack, they believed the suspect to be Johnson.
Officers from the sheriff’s office requested the DOC K9 tracking team for assistance, with Johnson apprehended about 30 minutes later not far from where he abandoned the stolen truck.
The vehicle’s owner told law enforcement he left the truck at a gas station in Calico Rock, where he meets his boss to go to work. Two firearms had been left in the vehicle, along with a recently purchased manual transmission for a diesel truck. All of the items were recovered when the stolen vehicle broke down.
Johnson told officers he had not been getting along with a family member and had asked to be taken to a Calico Rock motel Friday evening. On Saturday, he was looking for a bus depot, and the only one he could locate was in Newport.
He said he had been drinking when he saw the truck at the Calico Rock gas station with a key in it. He decided he wasn’t going to walk to Newport and took the vehicle.
Johnson said he did not get far when the truck began shifting, and he had to pull over. He said an unidentified guy tried to get him to sit down and wait for the cops. He said the man tripped him a couple of times, and he remembers telling him he was not going to return to prison. So, he grabbed his backpack and headed for the woods. He said he was so drunk he had to drop the pack.
Johnson has been charged with three felony counts of theft of property, as well as breaking or entering and possession of firearms by certain persons, meaning he is a convicted felon. He also faces a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief.
His bond was set at $40,000.
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