Photo: Andy Baker Jr.A 19-year-old Bull Shoals man who was arrested and charged with rummaging through vehicles parked at a home on U.S. Highway 62/412 East appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court last Thursday.Andy Baker Jr. entered a not guilty plea to charges of breaking or entering, theft of property and public intoxication. He was ordered to reappear in circuit court July 23.
A Baxter County deputy sheriff responded to the victim’s home about 11 p.m. May 28. A resident said she had been sleeping when the sound of a car door closing woke her.
She told the deputy she looked out the window and saw a shirtless male searching through her vehicles.
The woman said she yelled, “Get the gun, someone is in my car” and began clicking the door locks.
The man fled, running down the highway toward Mountain Home.
Initially, the victim said nothing seemed to be missing, but later a “game camera checker” belonging to her husband was found on the road where the man apparently dropped it while running.
The deputy was then notified by dispatch a shirtless male had been reported walking down the middle of the highway.
The man was said to be attempting to get a ride out of the area by flagging down vehicles.
Two deputies were now involved in the incident, and they located the man, identified as Baker, sitting on a bench and waving at passing vehicles.
When questioned, Baker told the deputies he had been walking toward Mountain Home, after a friend dropped him off at a business along U.S. Highway 62/412.
The deputies reported Baker fit the description provided by the victim of the person going through her vehicles.
Baker was mumbling and not making sense, according to the deputies, and also had the smell of intoxicants about him.
Baker asked the deputies for a ride into Mountain Home so he could get a place to sleep. The deputies gave him a ride, but it ended at the Baxter County Detention Center.
Baker’s bond is set at $2,500. He will be represented by a public defender.
Circuit Judge Gordon Webb allowed Baker to be released on his own recognizance, so he could return to his job. He was ordered to put up the money for his bond no later than Wednesday June 24.
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