Man caught advertising stolen items on social media must pay $8,200 in restitution

wireready_05-18-2019-11-22-07_09601_jamesstout

A Cotter man charged with stealing items he then advertised for sale on a social media site entered a guilty plea to the charges against him during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.

Fifty-eight-year-old James Stout, who stood accused of breaking into and stealing a number of items from a storage unit in Gassville, was put on probation for 10 years and ordered to pay slightly more than $8,200 in restitution. The stolen items included a dining table with 10 chairs, a gun cabinet, 410 shotgun, a muzzleloader, bunk beds, sectional sofa and above ground swimming pool.

In mid-August last year, the victim contacted the Baxter County Sheriff’s office to report she had seen several items stolen from her storage unit advertised for sale on a social media site.

Investigators found the page where the items were showcased was under the name of an elderly woman residing in a local nursing home. It was determined the page under the woman’s name was actually being used by Stout, who was identified as the woman’s son.

One of the items listed for sale was a child’s nebulizer unit. The victim had provided the serial number for the unit. Investigators sent a message to the social media site inquiring about the item. Stout replied and agreed to meet the interested party to show him the unit — unaware he was in touch with sheriff’s investigators.

When contact was made, the serial numbers provided by the victim matched the ones on the nebulizer Stout brought to the meeting hoping to sell.

Stout was taken to the sheriff’s office to be interviewed. The Cotter man initially claimed he had taken the nebulizer from an “abandoned” storage unit. He said the owner of the storage facility had told him if he found a unit with no lock, the unit had been abandoned and he could help himself to the contents.

Investigators contacted the owner, and he said he had never told Stout he could take items from what had been referred to as “abandoned” units. Investigators reported when the first story did not work, Stout came up with other versions of how he had come into possession of the stolen nebulizer, but “none had any merit.”

Stout was charged with breaking or entering and theft of property.

WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI