Traffic stop nets three felony arrests

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A traffic stop Tuesday has led to felony arrests of two Mountain Home residents and a Midway man. According to an arrest affidavit from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Department, 50-year-old John Alan Gant and 46-year-old Dorothy Gant, both of Mountain Home, were charged with felony theft by receiving. Darvell Lee Nelson was with the pair and was charged with felony possession of a firearm and a parole violation. The Gants were released the same day on $10,000 bond each. Nelson is still in custody on a $5,000 bond.According to the affidavit, an investigator from the Sheriff’s Department noticed a truck with expired tags traveling on Highway 126 North. The sticker on the vehicle said the tags expired in May, but a check of the tag number revealed the tag expired in October of 2016. The sticker also appeared to have been tampered with.

After the traffic stop, John Gant was unable to produce registration saying he had just purchased the vehicle, however the insurance card he produced showed it had been covered for approximately the last three months. He also couldn’t produce any paperwork indicating ownership. A run of the VIN showed the vehicle to be stolen from a Pine Bluff resident in December of 2014. The tags were registered to a different type of truck belonging to residents of Flippin.

At that point the traffic stop became felonious and all of the vehicles’ occupants were asked to step out. A search of Dorothy Gant revealed a key fob for the same vehicle. The insurance was registered to her as well.

Inside the vehicle a loaded .22 was found within the reach of Nelson. Nelson is currently a parolee previously sentenced to 10 years in prison on drug related charges from 2016. The close proximity of Nelson to the firearm indicates possession.





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