Travis Smith, who lists an address in Tulsa, Oklahoma, appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and entered a not guilty plea to charges stemming from burglaries at two local businesses last month.
The 35-year-old Smith is charged with breaking into the J&J Convenience Store along Highway 62 East in Henderson on February 14th and Fred's Fish House at 44 Highway 101 Cutoff five days later. He was also the subject of two manhunts before being captured.
In both cases, video surveillance cameras caught the perpetrator in the act. At the convenience store, a single individual, later identified as Smith, can be seen driving to the business in a gray Jeep Compass. He forced the door to the store open and took cigarettes and the drawer from the cash register before leaving.
The individual was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, a facemask and shoes with what was described as a "particular reflective pattern". He was also said to have been carrying two "particularly identifiable burglary tools".
It was also determined from the convenience store video that the vehicle Smith was driving had Oklahoma license plates, although no numbers were visible.
On February 19th, deputies responded to the burglary at Fred's Fish House. Surveillance video at the restaurant shows the same vehicle as was seen during the earlier break-in at the convenience store. The suspect forced open the door to the restaurant, went directly to the cash register and took what money he could find and left the building.
The person in the second break-in was dressed in a similar manner to the one involved in the convenience store robbery.
At the same time, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office reported commercial burglaries in that county with a similar pattern to those in Baxter County.
Law officers made their first face-to-face contact with Smith when Fulton County Sheriff Albert Roork, who was off-duty and traveling in his own personal vehicle on Highway 62 near the Lake Norfork Inn, saw a vehicle he believed to be a match to the Jeep Compass involved in the burglaries in both Fulton and Baxter Counties. Roork was able to flag down the driver of the jeep as he was leaving the hotel. Once the Jeep was stopped and Roork identified himself as a law officer, Smith abandoned the vehicle and ran from the scene. Roork was able to identify Smith as the person driving the Jeep from photographs.
A manhunt was mounted in the area, but Smith was not located at that time.
The vehicle Smith had been driving contained items seen on video footage during the Baxter County break-ins.
Several days later, Baxter County Sheriff's Office investigators received a tip that Smith was at a residence along Foster Drive in Midway. When officers arrived at the scene, Smith fled through the back door of the home and ran into the woods.
The canine tracking team from the North Central Unit of the state prison system at Calico Rock was brought in and the dogs tracked and located Smith after about an hour. He was arrested and brought to the Baxter County Detention Center.
In addition to charges in this county, Smith will also be facing charges in Fulton County, Ozark County, Missouri and the State of Oklahoma for other alleged crimes, according to a news release from Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery.
Bond for Smith in Baxter County is set at $75,000. Judge John Putman ordered Smith to reappear in Circuit Court March 23rd.
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