A former job superintendent charged with stealing thousands of dollars in scrap metal and tools entered a guilty plea during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and was sentenced to 10 years probation and ordered to pay almost $18,000 in restitution.
The forty-three-year-old Christopher Yocham, who lists an address in Searcy, was working with a construction company on a job off Powerhouse Road in Lakeview, when the thefts took place.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the theft was noticed when the job was completed, tools were gathered up and scrap metal sent to be sold. The company reported the suspected theft to law enforcement in mid-September last year.
Yocham is alleged to have been selling scrap metal to a recycling business in Mountain Home over a period of months. He is reported to have received slightly more than $17,000 for the metal, while returning only $2,000 to his employer.
In addition, the company reported the loss of slightly more than $4,400 worth of tools. The total amount of tools and scrap metal is about $20,000.
It was announced in court Thursday Yocham had paid $10,000 toward the restitution he owns on Thursday.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI