Kansas man in MH to meet with underage female jailed, has car used as battering ram
A 31-year-old Junction City, Kansas man accused of driving almost 400 miles to Mountain Home to clandestinely meet a 16-year-old girl with whom he had been communicating on social media, made a first appearance in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Andrew Mitchell O’Brien entered a not guilty plea to charges of engaging children in sexually explicit conduct for use in visual or print medium and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
It is alleged the 16-year-old girl had sent O’Brien sexually explicit photographs of herself along with some video footage. O’Brien reportedly replied to the material with comments and asked the girl to send more photographs.
According to investigators, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office received a complaint from relatives of the girl reporting O’Brien was traveling between Kansas and Arkansas to meet the female. A meeting had been arranged at the parking lot of a business on State Highway 5 South near the girl’s residence. The relatives were concerned for the safety of the teen.
A Baxter County deputy sheriff set up surveillance at the meeting place. O’Brien was said to have driven by the area twice before pulling into the parking lot just before 1:00 a.m. on Dec. 15th.
The man, dressed in blue jeans, a hoodie and dark jacket, left his car and walked from the vehicle along State Highway 5 South past the girl’s residence and then returned to the agreed-on meeting place.
He had reportedly sent a text to the female minor tell her he was close by.
The deputy made contact with O’Brien and took the Kansas man into custody. His vehicle was searched and a number of items were located including handcuffs, vodka, condoms and two cellphones.
When initially contacted, O’Brien said he thought the girl was a 19-year-old, and denied he was aware she was only 16. The victim, however, said she had told O’Brien her actual age during their various communications.
O’Brien is reported to be on active military duty stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. Military police have placed a hold on him, according to Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery.
His bond was set at $50,000.
A Boone County man, Robert Lambert of Lead Hill, played a part in making O’Brien’s visit to the Twin Lakes Area even worse. Lambert was arrested Dec. 14th by Mountain Home Police at Walmart and placed in the Baxter County Detention Center. The vehicle he was driving was impounded.
When he was released Dec. 16th, Lambert went to the impound lot to find his vehicle, but discovered the lot was closed and secured. Lambert was captured on video surveillance cameras as he crawled under the fence and gained access to another vehicle and proceeded to ram the gate open. He then went to his own vehicle and drove it off the lot.
The vehicle he used as a battering ram belonged to O’Brien, who had driven it from Kansas to Mountain Home to allegedly meet the underage female with whom he had been corresponding on social media.
It was estimated Lambert caused about $10,000 damage to O’Brien’s vehicle and property at the impound lot.
Lambert also faces new charges stemming from the breakout at the impound lot. He is charged with breaking or entering, theft of property and criminal mischief. He was arrested in Harrison Dec. 17th and he was booked into the Baxter County jail. His bond is also set at $50,000. He will reappear in circuit court Jan. 17th to be formally arraigned.
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Sheriff: Thieves taking nearly anything, everything
A portion of the Twin Lakes Area has been seeing an uptick in residential burglaries and break-ins leading up to the holidays. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Department is reporting four burglaries in the last month in the Elizabeth area from Bexar toward Arkansas Highway 87 and to Gepp.
Sheriff Al Roork says the thief or thieves are taking nearly anything and everything.
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The sheriff says he believes the break-ins have occurred mainly in the nighttime hours. Roork hypothesizes the thief is most likely someone already familiar with the area.
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Sheriff Roork and members of his office are asking local residents to be vigilant of any suspicious activity in their neighborhoods.
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Roork is asking anyone who may see a potential burglar to contact the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office at 870-895-2601 or the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office at 870-425-7000.
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MH woman allegedly leaves store wearing new sweater, shoes without paying
A Mountain Home woman has been arrested and charged with a felony count of commercial burglary, as well as a misdemeanor count of theft of property. The charges are in connection with an incident in which 36-year-old Kristen Kemp was allegedly caught on video footage exiting a Mountain Home business in a sweater and shoes for which she did not pay.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Mountain Home Police officers were dispatched to the business on Dec. 11th. The store’s asset protection manager advised Kemp had been apprehended on Dec. 5th when she allegedly concealed items in her purse and left the business.
The items in her purse were returned, and Kemp was released.
When video footage was reviewed, the Mountain Home woman is reportedly seen exiting the store wearing the items for which she had not paid.
In January, Kemp was reportedly captured on video attempting to exit the same business, but left the items when confronted and refused to speak with asset protection. Later that same evening, she was arrested when she was caught stealing at another business.
Kemp’s bond in the latest incident was set at $5,000.
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Body of missing Newton County teen found
The body of a missing Newton County teen has been found near his home and the investigation into his death is underway. Newton County Sheriff-elect Glenn Wheeler says the body of Bradlee Glen Kilgore was found in a wooded area near his home near Low Gap.
Kilgore was last seen Sunday afternoon near Low Gap.
Wheeler says investigators from the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, Arkansas State Police and the Newton County Coroner’s Office are investigating the death.
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Proposal to cut Medicaid payments to assisted living facilities, limit in-home help advances
A proposal to cut Medicaid payments to assisted living facilities and limit the help the program provides to elderly and disabled Arkansans in their homes cleared the Legislature’s public health committees on Monday.
The action followed an exchange between Senator Missy Irvin of Mountain View and Legal Aid attorney Kevin De Liban.
The Northwest Arkansas Times reports the changes, affecting the 8,800 Arkansans served by the ARChoices program and 1,200 Medicaid recipients in assisted living facilities, are part of the state’s efforts to slow the growth of Medicaid spending by enough to save $835 million from the fiscal year that started July 1, 2017, through fiscal 2021.
The proposal would reduce the rates paid to assisted living facilities by nearly 22 percent and set annual, per-person caps on the in-home help provided to participants in the ARChoices program.
The House and Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor committees’ vote during a joint meeting came despite complaints from providers and beneficiaries the changes will cause assisted living facilities to go out of business and more disabled residents to end up in nursing homes, where the cost of their care will be higher.
ARChoices provides in-home help with daily living tasks and other needs for low-income people with disabilities severe enough to qualify for placement in a nursing home.
The Department of Human Services proposal would cap ArChoices benefits at $30,000 a year for recipients with the greatest needs — those who require total or extensive assistance with moving from one place to another, eating and using the bathroom.
Enrollees who are currently receiving more than $30,000 would be allowed to continue receiving their current level of care in 2019 and 95 percent of that amount in 2020.
Legal Aid attorney Kevin De Liban says the new system would increase the hours of care recipients can receive from about five and a half hours a day to about six and a half hours.
Sen. Irvin noted Monday the proposed system attempts to address criticisms of the state’s current method for awarding hours by giving Human Services Department nurses more discretion in awarding hours.
Irvin asked DeLiban, “I’m starting to wonder if there’s ever going to be a solution, or are you going to just continually be against any type of an assessment tool that we have to use? At what point are you going to be satisfied?”
De Liban said the state could make adjustments, such as increasing the annual cost caps, that would provide recipients with the care they need.
According to the waiver authorizing the program, the current rate was the result of negotiations between the department and providers in 2002 and automatically increased each year.
In a voice vote, with no members objecting, the committee declared the proposed rate and rules “reviewed.”
The proposal will go to the Legislative Council’s Administrative Rules and Regulations Subcommittee for approval on Dec. 18th and the full council on Dec. 21st.
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