Elizabeth Howell of Little Rock entered a guilty plea to charges stemming from the theft of a purse at a local nightspot and was given six years’ probation during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court last week.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the case, Howell, who formerly lived in this area, took the purse November 27, 2015. The theft was reported shortly after 1 a.m.
The victim said her purse contained her IPhone, debit/credit card, an envelope containing slightly more than $100, approximately 30 Hydrocodone pills and other miscellaneous items.
The 50-year-old Howell was identified as a suspect when the victim’s cellphone was tracked to Howell’s address on State Highway 201 South, and by the fact that she left her own credit card on the bar when leaving the club.
Shortly after the theft was reported, the victim’s credit card was used at a local 24-hour business. According to the probable cause affidavit, about $155 was put on the card at the business.
The day after the theft had been reported, a worker at the Mountain Home Post Office found the stolen purse in a large mailbox at the facility and turned it over to the Mountain Home Police Department from where it went on to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office.
On November 30th, Howell voluntarily came to the Sheriff’s Office and admitted taking the purse and using the debit/credit card. She said she had destroyed the stolen IPhone.
Mountain Home attorney Andrew Bailey, who represented Howell, said his client’s case had been on the court’s docket for almost two years, primarily because Howell had entered a rehab program after the purse theft and that the program took a year to complete. He told the court Howell was “very sorry and embarrassed by what she had done.” Bailey also reported to the court Howell had already paid victim restitution of about $1,074.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI