Photo: Keith Palmer III
A Gassville man was jailed Sept. 28 on drug charges. He then managed to commit more crime while behind bars, according to electronic court records.
In all, 36-year-old Keith Palmer III had four new criminal cases opened on him in a span of just over a month.
Palmer appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday. A request was made that his $31,000 bond be lowered.
The state opposed the reduction and Circuit Judge John Putman said he would make no changes in the current bond.
STARTED WITH TRAFFIC STOP
Palmer’s problems began when he was a passenger in a pickup truck stopped by a Mountain Home police officer, while traveling on U.S. Highway 62 East on Sept. 28.
The stop was initially made because the truck was displaying expired license plates.
During the stop, the officer noticed Palmer was holding a black baseball cap.
The driver of the vehicle gave permission for a search. As Palmer was exiting the truck, the officer saw him place the black hat on the truck seat.
A case for eyeglasses was found inside the hat containing a smoking pipe and a small amount of suspected methamphetamine.
Palmer told the officer he was unaware of any drug being inside the hat. He was arrested and taken to the Baxter County Detention Center.
BROKE THE LAW IN JAIL
After being in jail for slightly more than 11 days, Palmer began to engage in disruptive behavior at the detention center.
In the early morning hours of Oct. 8, Palmer claimed he had fallen and hit his head. He was put in a restraint chair and brought to the booking area to be checked out medically to see if he needed to be transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center.
Palmer, however, got out of the chair when a jailer turned his back and fled the booking area, shutting two doors behind him, as he ran.
His journey took him through three sections of the jail. It came to an end when a locked door leading to the recreation area stopped him.
Jailers were able to corral Palmer and escort him back to the booking area, again putting him in the restraint chair.
For his first escapade, Palmer was charged with third-degree escape, impairing the operation of a vital public facility and obstructing governmental operations.
As Palmer’s short-lived flight played itself out, a call was placed for assistance, when the situation at the jail appeared to be escalating.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Mountain Home police officers and sheriff’s deputies from the patrol division all “logged code” and proceeded to the jail using lights and sirens.
Four days later, Palmer got in more trouble, when he broke a sprinkler system head flooding the top tier of E and F pods.
A review of video surveillance camera footage revealed Palmer standing on a bunk and pulling on the sprinkler head multiple times, until it finally broke and water poured out. He said he had been made to damage the sprinkler head by other inmates.
For his second round of trouble making, Palmer was charged with impairing the operation of a vital public facility, communicating a false fire alarm by activating the sprinkler system and criminal mischief.
STEALS FROM FELLOW INMATES
Palmer got in trouble again, after an inmate reported he had not received his commissary order that was placed on Nov. 17.
Surveillance camera video was reviewed, and it showed Palmer using an improvised fishing line to snag a cart where items purchased by inmates from the commissary were kept.
He pulled the cart to a spot near his cell and then grabbed the items off the cart and handed them to another inmate who stashed them in his bunk.
For the theft of the commissary items, Palmer was charged with breaking or entering and theft of property.
All of the activity left Palmer facing the three sets of charges picked up in jail, as well as the drug charge that initially brought him to the lockup.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI