Lori Ann Thorne of Gassville, who has been in trouble in both Baxter and Marion counties for breaking into houses and stealing thousands of dollars in personal property, was in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.She entered a guilty plea to residential burglary charges and was sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay almost $1,400 in restitution.
The 53-year-old Thorne was recently sentenced to five years in prison in Marion County where she was accused of breaking into a relative’s home on January 5th, 2015. She is an inmate in the McPherson Unit of the state prison system in Newport serving time on that conviction. She was ordered to pay almost $5,000 in restitution in the Marion County case.
The Baxter County case on which Thorne appeared Thursday involved the break-in of a residence along Nelson Avenue in June 2014. DNA on a discarded cigarette found on the kitchen floor of the home led to Thorne being name a suspect.
It took about nine months for the Arkansas State Crime lab to report results of the DNA testing to local authorities.
Mountain Home police reported entry to the Nelson Street home was gained by breaking out a kitchen window at the rear of the structure. Officers said it appeared various areas of the residence had been gone through, including closets, drawers and a space where medicine was stored.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Thorne’s mother lived directly behind the residence broken into, and Thorne was living with her mother at the time.
In the Marion County case, deputies were called to a residence, located along County Road 7033, in early January 2015 in response to a report of a break-in and robbery. Thorne’s sister and her husband lived in the home.
Investigators reported a number of items, including jewelry and a vehicle, had been taken.
The jewelry taken from the house came from a concealed compartment in the residence. The victims said Thorne had knowledge of the hiding place, leading them to point the finger at her as the one who broke in and robbed their home while the couple was at work.
On the day of the Marion County break-in, a car belonging to Thorne’s mother was left unattended at the sister’s Marion County residence. The mother had reported the car missing to Mountain Home police. The mother said Thorne had taken her car January 4th, 2015 and she believed her daughter was headed to California.
Meanwhile, a vehicle belonging to the sister and her husband was missing, making it appear Thorne had switched vehicles, leaving her mother’s car behind. Investigators believed Thorne and her 14-year-old son were both on their way west in the sister’s stolen vehicle and with items taken from the sibling’s home.
The two Arkansas cases were dormant until early January when Thorne was arrested and booked into the Marion County jail on a string of charges stemming from the break-in at her sister’s home, including residential burglary, theft of property and theft of the vehicle and firearms.
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