A Mountain Home man who has a criminal record stretching back 16 years was back in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday where he pled not guilty to the most recent charges filed against him.
The courts have handed down one suspended sentence after another in criminal cases involving 35-year-old Robert Dillon Willett dating back to 2002 when the first case shows up on electronic court records. Willett was a teenager at the time.
Willett was given six years in prison on a number of drug-related charges in 2011 stemming from his involvement — along with several co-defendants — in manufacturing methamphetamine at a residence along Apple Blossom Circle.
He was charged with manufacturing a controlled substance, being in possession of a controlled substance, and drug paraphernalia.
A company specializing in cleaning up methamphetamine manufacturing operations was brought in to deal with the situation.
Willett has also spent time in one of the Community Correction Centers in the state where people are normally sent to undergo treatment for addictions.
Criminal charges have been filed against him in May and December 2002, July 2006, September and December 2010, May 2013, October 2014, February 2015, September 2017 and February 2019.
The latest felony charges against Willett stem from a Feb. 16th traffic stop. According to the probable cause affidavit, a Mountain Home police officer pulled Willett over shortly after midnight. The officer initiated the stop after seeing the pickup truck Willett was driving traveling in the opposing lane of traffic.
The officer reported being aware Willett was on felony probation with an active search waiver on file. The waiver means Willett has agreed to warrantless searches of his person, residence and vehicle at any time, as a condition of his probation.
Methamphetamine and paraphernalia used to ingest the drug were found in Willett’s vehicle.
After the traffic stop Feb. 16th, Willett was arrested again by Mountain Home police in the early morning hours of Feb. 22nd and ticketed for driving while intoxicated, as well as several misdemeanor drug charges and traffic infractions.
The new charge then triggered the filing of petitions to revoke Willett’s probation handed down in two earlier drug cases.
Drug-related charges make up the bulk of the cases set up against Willett through the years.
According to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, Willett has been booked into the county jail 37 times since 2002.
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