Seth Withrow (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A man pled guilty to charges including stealing property belonging to a deceased individual during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Thirty-four-year-old Seth Andrew Withrow, who lists an address in the Midway area, will be formally sentenced July 29th.
He was accused of taking two motorcycles, a 4000-watt generator, a garden cart and miscellaneous other items from the former residence of a man who died two years ago.
In mid-September 2022, members of the dead man’s family reported that the items were missing, and the camper-trailer in which their relative had lived was also found to have been entered by prying open a door.
The family members said someone had rummaged through the contents of the camper-trailer located along County Road 10 in Midway.
On Oct. 3, 2022, an Arkansas State Police trooper saw one of the motorcycles reported stolen near the intersection of Cannie Baker and Webber roads.
The trooper initially pulled the motorcycle over due to the license plate being expired.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Withrow was riding the 2007 Suzuki. The trooper made note of the fact that the ignition switch to the bike was missing.
Tampering with the ignition in such a way allows the motorcycle to be started without a key, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Withrow told the trooper that he had been given the motorcycle by the former owner before he died. He claimed to have a bill of sale but could not produce it.
He is reported to have had an expired insurance card made out to the dead man.
During the investigation, Withrow produced two spiral notebook pages and claimed they were bills of sale for the motorcycles.
The documents were written in pencil, and there were no signatures affixed. Withrow alleged no one had been around to witness the transaction.
In addition, the plates on the motorcycle were expired, Withrow had no motorcycle endorsement on his driver’s license, and there was no evidence that Withrow had insurance on the bike.
At one time acting as his own attorney, Withrow filed documents in at least one of his cases that appears similar to those filed by members of a group known as “Sovereign Citizens.”
The loosely knit group has a range of baseless and misinformed ideas of what the law is or isn’t.
In one of Withrow’s filings, he disputes “that I have obligations to the state in the form of licenses, franchises, fines and taxes.”
People calling themselves Sovereign Citizens often refuse to license vehicles or to pay fines or taxes.
In other cases, Withrow is charged with possessing methamphetamine and traffic violations after being stopped by a state trooper in late January 2022.
In a case opened against Withrow in September 2021, he is charged with selling 3.6 grams of methamphetamine to a person working with law enforcement.
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