A Mountain Home man appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court/Criminal Division March 30 and pled guilty to charges against him in a case in which everyone involved seemed to point the finger at each other.
Twenty-five-year-old Rafael Jose Sanchez was charged with breaking or entering, theft of property, and 2nd degree criminal mischief.
After entering his guilty plea, Sanchez was sentenced to four-years-probation.
He was accused of breaking into a house located along County Road 719. When he was being questioned, Sanchez said he thought the house that was broken into was abandoned because he drove by it every day on his way to work and never noticed a vehicle parked at the residence.
A 16-year-old male said he and Sanchez had been riding around in late November last year when they came to the house and Sanchez got out of the vehicle, crawled through a hole in the fence and entered the house.
The juvenile told investigators Sanchez came out of the house with a tote full of ammunition, reloading equipment and cellphones and brought the items to the vehicle.
Sanchez is then claimed to have told the juvenile to get out of the vehicle and help load a toolbox out of the garage area.
The pair then went to the residence of a third person located off Cannie Baker, picked him up and the trio then went to Sanchez’s house along Glenstone Drive where they were reported to have unloaded the stolen items.
The juvenile said he had been threatened with harm him if he told anyone of what had been done.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the value of the stolen items was about $4,200.
One of the victims said it appeared entry to the house had been made by pushing a small window air conditioner installed above the sink into the house. The unit fell and snapped the faucet in the sink in half. Damage due to the break-in was estimated at $600.
As investigators talked to the people allegedly involved, a number of stories emerged about who actually did the stealing and who had possession of the stolen items and why.
At one point, Sanchez is reported to have said that he did not take any items from the house but did help the juvenile load the toolbox into a truck. The juvenile had claimed it was Sanchez who went through a hole in a fence, gained entry to the house and carried a number of items out of the residence.
On January 12, a search warrant was executed at Sanchez’s residence. The officers first contacted Sanchez’s girlfriend and then found Sanchez hiding in a closet.
Property reported to have been taken from the house on County Road 719 was found in Sanchez’s house including three tablets and two cellphones. The girlfriend gave the officers a Vera Bradley handbag that belonged to one of the victims.
At the third male’s house, officers found approximately 200 rounds of 30-06 ammunition that had been reported missing from the victim’s house. He was alleged to have claimed that the ammunition found at his house actually belonged to Sanchez and that he had given Sanchez the items that investigators found at Sanchez’s house.
The story did not hold after the man was told that the property seized matched the description of items stolen from the vacant residence.
In addition, Sanchez himself had said that the items were taken from the house along County Road 719.
The third man involved was on probation at the time. He was charged with misdemeanor theft by receiving. Any charges filed against the minor will be handled in juvenile court.
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