An Izard County man who is the local owner of a large corporate appliance store in Mountain Home has been arrested for stealing from the business. Forty-year-old Jerrell Ray Hightower of Franklin turned himself into the Baxter County Detention Center late Thursday night.
The probable cause statement from the Mountain Home Police Department indicates an audit by corporate personnel discovered several thousand dollars in merchandise was missing. Investigators were told merchandise was supposed to be run through the corporate cash register which would remove it from the inventory, alert corporate an item had been sold and a printed receipt would be given to the buyer. Hightower would then deposit payments into a corporate bank account and would receive his commissions from that account.
When law enforcement looked into Hightower’s bank accounts, it was discovered over $21,000 in missing merchandise from the audit can be traced to deposits made into his personal accounts.
Investigators were able to track down several buyers from cleared checks written to the business as well as checks written directly to Hightower. When interviewed, some of the buyers provided handwritten receipts with information leading back to the missing items. Some were told the computers were down and that’s why they were given hand written receipts while others were told their checks would be their receipts.
Corporate officials told law enforcement the company does not issue handwritten receipts, only register receipts with the corporate name on it.
Hightower is charged with felony counts of theft of property and forgery and a misdemeanor count of falsifying a business record. Hightower is free after posting $25,000 bond.
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