Photo: Kory Adam Charlton
A Mountain Home man appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and pled guilty to breaking or entering and theft charges.
Thirty-year-old Kory Adam Charlton was put on probation for four years.
Carlton admitted that he stole a 105-gallon fuel tank and a microwave oven from an outbuilding behind the Sears store in late March last year.
Surveillance camera footage showed a newer model Jeep Cherokee drive up to the back of the business on March 25 at about 2:30 a.m.
A male exited the vehicle, entered the outbuilding and removed the tank, placing it in the back of the jeep.
The footage was shared with a number of people, and they were reported to have “positively” identified Charlton as the person shown in the pictures.
Both items were located and returned to the business owner, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Charlton still faces charges in two other cases. The most recent stems from a high-speed chase through the center of Mountain Home in early July.
Baxter County sheriff’s deputies had been chasing Charlton’s motorcycle for some time before it entered the city limits.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Charlton pulled into a business along U.S. Highway 62 East at one point, and a deputy pulled in behind him and ordered the Mountain Home man to turn off the bike.
Charlton decided otherwise. He is said to have sped off and proceeded through the center of town with speeds recorded in excess of 100-miles-per-hour.
The motorcycle was reported to have been weaving through traffic, passing vehicles improperly and running stop signs.
The Baxter County sheriff’s helicopter was launched and followed the motorcycle until it went out of sight at the intersection of Coley Drive and Gentry Street.
A report was received that a white motorcycle was parked in the driveway of a residence along Gentry that did not belong to anyone living at the address.
The motorcycle was registered to Charlton at an address a few door down from where it was parked.
He was arrested and charged with felony fleeing in a motor vehicle and a number of traffic violations.
The initial charges in the series stemmed from an incident in late July 2019.
Charlton was reported to have broken into the passenger side storage bins of a wrecker owned by a local business where he had once worked and removed property stored in the bins.
A wrecker driver returning from a run saw a pickup truck parked beside a large wrecker belonging to the business and alerted the owner.
The owner drove to his business and recognized the pickup truck and its driver. He told investigators, Carlton had worked for him at one time.
After arriving, the owner parked his vehicle in a way that prevented Charlton from going forward. He told Charlton not to move, that police were on their way.
Charlton, however, did not want to wait for the police. He is reported to have backed up and left the scene at a high rate of speed.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the business owner told investigators it appeared he was missing heavy-duty straps and chains and tools used in his towing business.
In addition, the cap from the passenger side fuel tank on the wrecker was removed. The owner said the pickup Charlton had been driving at the time had a diesel engine.
The business owner said he saw Charlton carrying some kind of box and putting it in the pickup he was driving.
The owner speculated it could have been a fuel transfer pump that had been used to take diesel fuel from his vehicle and put it into Carlton’s.
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