Stolen license plate leads to court which leads to prison term for MH man

wireready_08-03-2019-11-20-08_00044_austindutton5232019

A stolen license plate led to drug charges being filed against a Mountain Home man, and that led to circuit court which led to prison for 58-year-old Austin Earl Dutton.

Dutton pled no contest to charges against him during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and was sentenced to six years in the state prison system.

According to the probable cause affidavit, in late May, an Arkansas State Police trooper observed a vehicle driven by Dutton with a license plate that had been reported stolen.

The trooper said the vehicle eventually turned into a trailer park in Midway.

When contact was made with Dutton, the trooper said the Mountain Home man had trouble following commands. When Dutton exited his vehicle, a search turned up a small bag of methamphetamine on the ground by the driver’s side door.

During a search of Dutton’s residence along County Road 27, a number of items of drug paraphernalia — including digital scales, three glass smoking pipes and a syringe — were found, along with seven small plastic bags containing a white crystalline substance.

At the time of his arrest, Dutton said he had found the license plate at a business in Midway and put it on his vehicle because it had not been registered.

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