A long-time Mountain Home gunsmith has been charged with taking money, guns and gun parts, not doing promised work, and failing to return anything to customers.Forty-five-year-old Jayson Lee Cotter was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center shortly after 1:30 Wednesday afternoon. The jail log shows Cotter was booked on charges of felony theft of property. His bond is set at $10,000.
Gun owners from across the country have contacted the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office to report the problems they allege they were having with Cotter. The owners charge Cotter, who does business under the name Investment Grade Firearms, had virtually cut off communication with them.
Reports have come into the sheriff’s office from gun owners in at least 14 states scattered from coast-to-coast. Some reported waiting unsuccessfully for up to four years for Cotter to complete jobs.
In reports examined by KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot news, Cotter is alleged not to have accounted for about $32,000 in cash, guns and parts for the weapons at the time the complaints were made.
While some of the owners reached out to the sheriff’s office for help in reestablishing contact with Cotter, others have sought to have their property and cash payments listed as stolen.
At one point, a gun owner’s website reported so many people had contacted the sheriff’s office regarding the situation with Cotter and Investment Grade Firearms, a wellness check was conducted. According to the website, Cotter had been found “alive and well.”
The text of what was said to have been an auto-reply email sent by Cotter to any inquiring customer indicated delays had been caused by a number of factors — including health problems, injuries sustained when he was allegedly attacked by at least four people in June last year and a “flood” of work he received in 2017 and 2018 creating a significant backlog.
Some gun owners on one blog say they have been given dates when their jobs would be completed, or assured they would be contacted soon and provided with tracking numbers for shipments headed their way.
They say they are still waiting.
In addition, some gun owners made complaints directly to the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office. In paperwork provided to KTLO, Classic Hits and The Boot news by the AG’s office, owners from Illinois, Tennessee, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Michigan, Ohio, Washington State, South Carolina and California have filed complaints with the Attorney General.
All those complaints were similar to those filed with the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office. They cite Cotter’s cut off of communications with them, missed delivery dates and no return of guns, gun parts and money and contracted work apparently not done.
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