Lee Edward Wille of Mountain Home, who described himself as a “pillar of society” during one court appearance, entered a plea of no contest to charges filed against him in two criminal cases and was given four years in prison.
The 47-year-old Wille was charged in connection with the theft of a pickup truck in April and for taking a stereo system from a boat in early May.
The truck theft was reported April 26th. The vehicle’s owner told police Wille had come to his home and asked to borrow the truck, but he had turned him down.
He later found the vehicle missing.
The next day, the owner reported to police he was following his own missing truck north on State Highway 5. Police responded and stopped the vehicle on County Road 27.
Wille was found behind the wheel of the stolen truck and arrested. Lawmen at the scene also reported finding a small bag containing a spoon containing residue and a syringe. A set of digital scales was also located.
Wille had initially claimed he had borrowed the vehicle and admitted only he had not returned it as promised. He termed the situation, “a borrowed vehicle deal gone bad.” During one court appearance, Wille had told the court if he could be released from jail he could “straighten this whole problem out.”
In the second case, Wille was charged with removing a stereo system and satellite radio receiver from a boat parked in the yard of a residence in Cotter. During the investigation of the truck theft, officers located Wille at a storage unit in Midway, and he was found to be in possession of most of the items taken from the boat.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI