Christopher Rhoades of Nixa, Missouri — charged with selling an excavator he did not own for almost $33,000 to a Baxter County man — had his bond lowered during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Rhoades has entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the 39-year-old Rhoades put the excavator on Craigslist. The Baxter County man contacted Rhoades and was told the machine was paid for, and Rhoades wanted to sell it to purchase another piece of equipment. He also contacted the manufacturer, provided the serial number on the machine, but was told, due to privacy laws, they could not provide information concerning the financing status of the machine.
The victim and Rhoades agreed on a price of $32,800, and Rhoades delivered the excavator to the victim’s residence.
After the sale, a repossession company contacted the victim and told him the machine had been purchased from a dealer in Little Rock and a lien of slightly more than $36,000 remained in effect on the machine. The victim was told there was a GPS tracking device on the excavator enabling it to be traced to the victim’s address.
The victim was told Rhoades had not made a payment on the equipment since September last year. Two payments were made after that date, but both checks were returned due to insufficient funds.
Rhoades’ attorney, Andrew Bailey, asked the court to lower his client’s bond to $10,000 and to change the conditions of the bond from cash only, to allow Rhoades to post bond through a bail bond company. His current bond is set at $32,000.
Fourteenth Judicial District Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kerry Chism told Judge John Putman the state opposed changing the bond and wanted it to remain cash only. Chism told the court the repossession of the equipment had put the victim in serious financial trouble to the point he was having to consider bankruptcy. He said the victim was a young man working to start his own business. Chism said the cash-only bond would provide some protection for the victim in recovering restitution in the case.
Bailey argued bonds are in place to help ensure court appearances by those facing criminal charges and not to provide victim restitution.
Judge Putman reduced the bond to $20,000 and ordered that 20 percent would be posted in cash. Under the judge’s ruling, the remainder can be posted by a bail bond company.
Rhoades was ordered to reappear May 31st.
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