Photo: Lewie Elmer Branscum
A four-wheeler reported stolen in Baxter County in May 2019 has been recovered, and an Izard County man is facing a felony theft by receiving charge.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the brother of 34-year-old Lewie Elmer Branscum of Calico Rock, told an Izard County deputy he had seen his sibling on a four-wheeler he believed was possibly stolen. Branscum reportedly parked the vehicle and began walking towards his residence along Hummingbird Lane.
Authorities were in contact with the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office with an investigator confirming a missing similar four-wheeler.
Izard County law enforcement was unable to locate the vehicle identification number due to the four-wheeler being damaged in that area.
Instead, the vehicle’s engine number was used to confirm a match with the four-wheeler reported stolen in Baxter County.
Branscum’s bond was set at $10,000, and he is set to appear in Izard County Circuit Court in June.
Online court records dating back to 2008 indicate Branscum has been arrested on felony-level charges on seven previous occasions.
Prior to the latest incident, Branscum was sentenced to six years in the Arkansas Department of Correction after being charged with two counts of theft of property in 2017.
The case involved the theft of a pickup truck outside a Calico Rock business. The vehicle owner reported when she exited her place of employment about midnight, her vehicle was missing. It was later found wrecked in Sharp County.
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