A man charged with being involved in stealing, storing and selling items from storage units and homes appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division November 17.Thirty-one-year-old Carl Jacob Jones of Henderson entered a guilty plea to charges contained in seven felony cases and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Jones and 45-year-old Michael John Smith were both charged in connection with the series of thefts that took place early this year.
All of the cases were opened in March. In probable cause affidavits filed in the cases, Jones is alleged to have been the one stealing items and Smith with storing them on his property.
Items listed as stolen in the various cases include a trailer, wood splitter, winches, a welding cart, hedge trimmer, leaf blower, electric chain saw sharpener, sand blaster, tools, all-terrain vehicles,, four ATV tires, generator, air compressor, chainsaw, a toolbox, robot vacuum cleaner, batteries, a .22-caliber rifle, ammunition, clothing, a vehicle, water skis, a knee board, life vests, and a battery charger.
Many of the items were taken from storage units in a complex located in Henderson. According to the probable cause affidavits, Smith was alleged to have been able to go from unit-to-unit on the inside of the building by crawling through a void at the top of the walls that divided the units.
In addition to what was stolen, a number of items of person property were damaged, including a recreational vehicle that had a hole drilled in the gas tank apparently to siphon fuel from the vehicle.
On March 21, a report came into the sheriff’s office that there had been a burglary at a vacation home located along County Road 807 in Gamaliel which is described as “rarely traveled.”
A number of items were missing with an estimated value of almost $3,000 and damage to the residence was set at about $600.
The out-of-town owners said they had hired Jones at one point to clean up around the home and that he did some work inside the house as well. When investigators attempted to questions Jones about the incident, he was reported to have refused to answer.
A second residence was reported broken into on March 18. The residence is located along County Road 478. The victim told investigators she had purchased a house in Mountain Home and was in the process of moving her property from one place to the other.
She said she was staying at the new house in Mountain Home.
As investigators talked to the woman, she said she had recently picked up a man who had run out of gas in his motorcycle. She said his name was Carl Jones.
Jones told the victim he was out of work and she took him to the house she was vacating and they walked around the property while she pointed out items that needed attention.
The victim said Jones told her he would show up the next day to begin the work but was a no show.
Investigators checked Leads Online to determine if Jones had pawned or sold items to a scrap yard recently. It showed he had taken some items to a scrap yard to sell and the items were on a trailer that was described as “freshly painted red.”
The victim was contacted and shown photos of the trailer and the man selling the scrap items and verified that the trailer belonged to her and had been stolen from the residence from which she was moving.
She said the only difference was the trailer had been painted red.
When he made the transaction at the scrap yard, the business took photos, copied his driver’s license and took a fingerprint.
Jones was seen later delivering items to the same scrapyard. The trailer was the same one seen being used in the first transaction but had been repainted green, but spots of red paint could be seen. The trailer had originally been painted black.
On March 21, investigators were traveling on State highway 5 North when they were notified that Jones had returned to the scrapyard to sell some metal. They went to the business, located Jones and he was taken into custody without incident.
In the incident to arrest search, investigators found a small plastic bag containing a white powder that field tested positive for cocaine.
When asked where he had gotten the trailer, Jones said he had procured it in a “trade of narcotics with Michael Smith.”
He was asked why the trailer had been spray painted and he said he “just did not like the color black.”
Jones said he did not know the trailer was stolen.
He did say Smith possibly “had a lot of items at his house that are stolen.” He mentioned a Polaris side-by-side that he had also seen in the yard.
Investigators were able to verify that the side-by-side was in Smith’s backyard partially covered with a black tarp. A person living in the area said that after dark trailers full of items could be seen entering Smith’s property and being empty when they left.
A search warrant was obtained and served and property that had been reported stolen was located.
When he was questioned Smith said he was unaware the items were stolen but “should have figured something was going on” because Jones was “bringing items over all the time.”
Investigators told Smith if he had those suspicions he should have reached out to law enforcement. He is reported to have replied that he “thought about doing that.”
In the felony cases open on him, Jones is charged with residential burglary, breaking or entering, criminal mischief, theft of property, theft of a firearm, being a felon in possession of a firearm, commercial burglary, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of cocaine.
Smith is charged with theft by receiving, tampering with physical evidence, criminal mischief, conspiracy to commit breaking or entering and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Smith is free on $20,000 bond.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI