A Mountain Home man with a long history of committing crimes and running from the law was declared an absconder Monday after he stopped reporting to his probation/parole officer.
In September 2021, 34-year-old Stephan Richard Whaples pled to charges in open cases that were all filed the year before. Since his initial criminal case was opened, Whaples has spent time in the Baxter County jail and the state prison system.
The charges in those open cases include allegedly stealing all terrain vehicles to sell so he could pay fines levied in earlier cases and possession of drugs.
According to the probable cause affidavit in the ATV theft cases, Whaples is alleged to have taken two of the machines – a Honda Pioneer side-by-side and a Suzuki KingQuad – in early 2020. They were both found concealed in the woods and both were reported to have been “hotwired.”
Video from game cameras in the remote area where the Honda had been hidden pictured a white Chevrolet truck driven by a person identified as Whaples. A female, 31-year-old Ashley Henson of Mountain Home, described as Whaples’ girlfriend, was a passenger in the vehicle.
When Henson was questioned in connection with the ATV thefts, she told investigators she had been with Whaples when he went to the area where the Honda was hidden. She maintained she did not know whether or not Whaples had stolen it.
Whaples ran afoul of the law again when an Arkansas State Police Trooper pulled him over for a minor traffic infraction on March 8, 2020.
The pickup truck Whaples was driving when the trooper stopped him was alleged to be the same one pictured on the game cameras being driven in the area where one of the stolen ATV’s was hidden in the woods.
The trooper reported searching the truck and finding a glass-smoking pipe with an unidentified residue, and a container with an unidentified green residue.
In addition, a set of digital scales covered in a substance field-testing positive for methamphetamine and a syringe were located.
Whaples has an established history of fleeing from law enforcement and not showing up in court. He was the subject of four manhunts in less than a year during a period in 2011-2012. At one point, he was described as a “most wanted fugitive” by the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office.
The manhunts have involved officers from multiple agencies, roadblocks, tracking dogs and the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office helicopter.
His first criminal case was filed in October 2011 when Whaples was 22-years-old. Since then, he has been charged with criminal trespass, fleeing, theft of property, refusal to submit to arrest, breaking or entering, commercial burglary, being a felon in possession of a firearm, criminal mischief, and possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
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