Photo: Andrew O’Brien
A 32-year-old former soldier accused of driving almost 400 miles from Junction City, Kansas, to Mountain Home to clandestinely meet a 16-year-old girl appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday. The soldier and the teen had been communicating on social media.
Andrew Mitchell O’Brien, who was in the U.S. Army stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas at the time of the incident, was charged with engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The state has made a plea offer in the case, and O’Brien was ordered to reappear in circuit court Oct. 24.
It is alleged the then-16-year-old Baxter County girl sent O’Brien photographs of herself, along with video footage. O’Brien reportedly replied with comments and a request for her to send more.
According to investigators, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint from relatives of the girl. They reported O’Brien was apparently traveling between Kansas and Arkansas to meet the teenager. A get-together had been arranged at the parking lot of a business on State Highway 5 South near the girl’s residence. The relatives reported they were concerned for the safety of the girl.
A Baxter County deputy sheriff set up surveillance near the meeting place. O’Brien was alleged to have driven by the area twice, before pulling into the parking lot just before 1 a.m. Dec. 15, 2018. According to court records, O’Brien allegedly left his car and walked along State Highway 5 South past the girl’s residence and then returned to the agreed-on meeting site.
He was said to have sent a text to the young girl reporting he had arrived in the area and was close to her home.
The deputy made contact with O’Brien and took him into custody. His vehicle was searched and a number of items were found — including handcuffs, vodka, condoms and two cellphones.
When initially contacted by the deputy, O’Brien said he thought the girl was 19-years-old and denied he ever knew she was only 16. The victim, however, said she had told O’Brien her actual age during their various communications.
The military police at Fort Riley were also involved in the case. O’Brien is no longer in the army and has apparently lost benefits as well. He is reported to be living with relatives in South Carolina.
Photo: Robert Lambert
A Boone County man, Robert Lambert of Lead Hill, played a part in making O’Brien’s initial visit to the Twin Lakes Area even worse. Lambert was arrested Dec. 14 last year by Mountain Home Police at Walmart and placed in the Baxter County jail. The vehicle he had been driving was impounded. When he was released two days later, Lambert went to the impound lot to find his vehicle, but discovered the lot was closed and secured. Lambert was captured on video surveillance cameras as he crawled under the fence and gained access to a car and used it to ram the lot’s gate open. He then went to his own car and drove it away through the smashed gate.
The vehicle Lambert used as a battering ram was reported to belong to O’Brien. It is the vehicle he had driven from Kansas to Mountain Home to allegedly meet the 16-year-old girl.
It was estimated Lambert did about $10,000 in damages to O’Brien’s vehicle and property at the impound lot.
Lambert has a failure to appear warrant out against him. He was a no-show for a circuit court session in late August.
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