A 24-year-old Mountain Home woman pled guilty to charges she violated the terms and conditions of her probation handed down in a 2021 case involving the theft of a vehicle.
During a session of Baxter County Circuit Court last Monday, Tessa Leigh Jones was sentenced to six years in prison with a judicial transfer to one of the Community Correction Centers in the state.
THEFT OF CAR
Jones’ original case stemmed from the theft of a vehicle in mid-February 2021. The owner of the vehicle called Mountain Home Police to report it stolen.
The woman said she and her boyfriend had picked up 34-year-old Mark Jeffries, who lists an address in Indianapolis, and gone back to the motel where the couple had been staying.
The victim said she went into the bathroom and when she came out, her car – a silver Ford Fusion – and Jefferies were gone.
The owner and her boyfriend searched the property but there was no sign of the car or Jeffries.
A day after the theft, Jeffries is alleged to have sent the victim a text message apologizing for taking the car.
CAR TRACKED TO NEWPORT
The business from which the vehicle had been purchased tracked it by GPS to a motel in Newport.
Police in the Jackson County town went to the motel and found the car. They also found Jeffries and Jones.
Both suspects told Newport police they had borrowed the car from the victim and that they were headed to Jonesboro.
Police said the car was full of property alleged to belong to Jeffries and Jones.
The victim was contacted and said she had not given anyone permission to “borrow” her vehicle.
JONES SOUGHT ORDER OF PROTECTION
While Jones and Jeffries were both inmates in the Baxter County Jail, Jones applied for an order of protection to keep Jeffries away from her.
She claimed her former companion had been harassing and threatening her.
REMOVED FROM TREATMENT PROGRAMS
Jones has been sent for addiction treatment several times to several different facilities but has been kicked out of all of them, according to court records.
Two treatment facilities removed Jones because she had “harmed” others in the program and the third because, “she sent explicit/nude photos to Jeffries,” the person she had sought to keep away from her by filing for an order of protection.
One of the altercations involving Jones and another person in the program resulted in Jones being sent to a hospital.
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