One of the two people charged in connection with a break-in at a residence along Cranfield Road in mid-August last year pled guilty to the charges against him in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
32-year-old Justin Blake Kelley was sentenced to five years in prison.
The first of the duo arrested was 26-year-old Destiny Dawn Reasons of rural Mountain Home. She was picked up November 4 last year. Kelley was jailed February 5. Both Reasons and Kelley were charged with residential burglary and theft of property.
In a second case, Kelley was charged with identity fraud, forgery, theft by receiving and criminal impersonation.
He was accused of using another person’s driver’s license during a traffic stop that ended up getting the actual holder of the license arrested.
The traffic stop occurred on October 19, 2022. Reasons was identified as the female passenger in the Ford Focus. The male driver, later identified as Kelley, gave officers a driver’s license issued to Dillon Holland.
A ticket was issued in Holland’s name. He did not show up for his date in court and a failure to appear warrant was issued.
A very surprised Holland was arrested on the warrant in mid-December 2022.
He was said to have “proclaimed his innocence” and non-involvement in the events, including the traffic stop and the failure to show up in court.
The charges against Holland were quickly dismissed.
In early February, when Kelley was arrested for breaking into the residence along Cranfield Road and living there with Destiny Reasons, the license belonging to Dillon Holland was found on Kelley’s person.
Reasons appeared in Baxter County Court on November 28 last year and entered a not guilty plea to the charges against her. Her trial is set for April 24.
Events leading up to the arrests of Kelley and Reasons on charges associated with the residential break-in began August 11, 2022, when the owner- of property along Cranfield Road reported that her residence had been entered while she was out of town.
The victim said when she returned home, she found the front door would not open and had been blocked by a chair from the inside.
As she was checking the house, the victim found that a television had been moved from its normal location, a pair of red and black tennis shoes not belonging to the owner were found under the kitchen table and clothing items were missing along with “numerous” power tools.
Outside the residence, a red duffel bag and a purple suitcase were found in the grass next to a swimming pool. A woman’s swimsuit and a towel were found draped over the fence surrounding the pool – both items were reported to still be wet.
The victim said the suitcase did belong to her as well as some of the clothing items found inside the luggage.
A Bible was also found. According to printing on one of the pages, the book has been presented to Reasons by a local church on January 20, 2020. The victim said she did now know anyone by that name.
As neighbors were interviewed, a man who manages a resort property across the street from where the victim resides, said he had seen a male and female, both appearing to be in their 20’s, by the pool on numerous occasions during the time the owner had been away.
A female who lives at a resort next door said she knew Reasons and that Reasons had been in the area of the break-in on the day it was reported.
Another witness told investigators he had seen the couple pulling a rolling-style cooler down Cranfield Road matching the description of one the victim reported missing from her home.
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