A Mountain Home man who has had a number of run ins with law enforcement over the past 10 years and served time in the Arkansas Department of Corrections is behind bars again, this time facing a whopping 66 felony charges. Thirty-eight-year-old James Patrick Lally has been arrested in connection with the theft of a large number of catalytic converters over the last five weeks.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the case from the Mountain Home Police Department, officers took the first report of the theft of catalytic converters March 12. By April 6, Mountain Home Police report a total of 32 converters had been reported stolen.
Investigators were able to use surveillance video from one of the businesses where the thefts occurred showing the suspect, later identified as Lally, arriving on a bicycle in dark clothing and taking several converters.
A check with a local scrap yard and one in Harrison showed Lally had sold seven converters for nearly $3,100.
Investigators went to a residence on Highway 201 North in Mountain Home March 23 where Lally resides in the garage according to the home owner. She gave investigators permission to search the garage, where they located three converters, a reciprocating saw, a metal grinder and several cut pieces of scrap metal which were all seized for evidence.
Officers went back to interview the home owner April 6 and encountered Lally in the garage. They were able to recover several more catalytic converters, another reciprocating saw, a grinder and other tools. Baxter County Sheriff’s Department investigators arrived and it was determined one of the converters was reported stolen from a business in the county.
While officers were at the scene and searching through the garage, Lally left the residence. He was arrested at a convenience store in Mountain Home Thursday night.
Lally is charged with 33 felony counts of theft of property, 33 counts of criminal mischief in the first degree and being a habitual offender. He is free after posting bond of $26,500 Tuesday.
Lally has six prior convictions of property crimes including in 2017 when he admitted he had taken a number of water meters, cut them up and sold the parts to a recycling business.
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