Woman who wanted to plead guilty but claims she was innocent, settles on guilty

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A Mountain Home woman who tried to plead guilty while saying she was innocent during a late June session of Baxter County Circuit Court finally settled on guilty during a court session Thursday.Thirty-eight-year-old Tina Faye Hollis was put on probation for five years.

According to court records, Hollis was charged, along with a male co-defendant, with stealing items from boat docks in the Pigeon Creek arm of Lake Norfork.

The incident leading to Hollis’ arrest began when a witness reported he had been fishing in the area where the boat docks were located in the early morning hours of May 24 and saw a male and female in an older model pickup truck in the area. He said there were items in the bed of the truck partially covered with a tarp.

The witness said he had talked with the couple at one point because they were having issues with their vehicle and needed a jump-start. He told investigators he saw a blue-and-white ski tube in the truck he believed belonged to a friend who owned one of the docks. The friend advised the dock owner of the early morning encounter with the couple, and the owner called the sheriff’s office later in the day, when he saw the a truck matching the description he had been given drive by his house headed back toward the dock.

Responding Baxter County Sheriff’s deputies first made contact with Hollis. They reported seeing items in the truck appearing as if they could have come from a boat dock — including a ski rope, gas grill, fishing equipment and a knee board. According to court records, Hollis was unable to provide a believable story as to how the items wound up in the truck.

The male accomplice was located hiding in an inflatable rubber canoe. He was identified as 23-year-old Brandon Brown of Mountain Home. Brown has entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him. He remains in the Baxter County jail on $25,000 bond and has been ordered to reappear in circuit court Aug. 29.




Investigators said when Hollis and Brown were interviewed separately, they gave different stories regarding elements of the crime, including how the stolen items got into the bed of the truck.

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