Photo: Daniel Wayne Albrecht
A man who allegedly devised a plan to test-market for goods before he stole them out of a storage unit appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Thirty-seven-year-old Daniel Wayne Albrecht entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him.
He was arrested Feb. 4 by Baxter County sheriff’s deputies and by Mountain Home police three days later.
He now faces charges in four criminal cases opened this year and one that remains open from last year.
According to the report on the arrest by the county, Albrecht was alleged to have sold a snowblower taken from a storage unit at the corner of County Road 28 and U.S. Highway 62 to a pawnshop.
He was then reported to have taken pictures of other items inside the storage unit, sending them to the pawnshop, asking if there was any interest in buying them. In the probable cause affidavit, investigators said the pictures of the items were “clearly taken from inside the storage unit belonging to the victim.”
As the county investigation was evolving, Albrecht and another man, 47-year-old Michael Scudder of Mountain Home, were arrested Feb. 7 by Mountain Home police for breaking into other storage units.
Photo: Michael Scudder
The owner of the complex pursued a vehicle he suspected had driven off the property with stolen items and took pictures enabling police to identify the car as belonging to Scudder.
Investigators involved in the city and county cases found several of the allegedly stolen items when they checked a number of locations, including a room at the Executive Inn and a residence belonging to one of Albrecht’s relatives.
Surveillance video was used to help identify Albrecht and Scudder at the scene of one of the break-ins.
Albrecht was also arrested in early January and charged with stealing a number of items from a cabin located along Hand Cove Road.
Investigators said there was no evidence of forced entry. Items missing included two large televisions and credit cards. The cards were reported to have been used extensively to make online purchases.
According to the probable cause affidavit, almost $3,000 in merchandise had been ordered, but vendors were able to cancel the sales because fraud was suspected. The merchandise was all to be shipped to an address in Gassville listed as Albrecht’s residence on his driver’s license.
At the time of the incident, Albrecht was reported to allegedly be living with a woman who stayed in the back portion of the resort office and cleaned cabins for the owner.
Albrecht is also charged with pawning a .20 gauge shotgun on Dec. 10 last year. Because he was a convicted felon, he was not allowed to possess or own a firearm.
He had to supply proof of identification as well as a fingerprint to the pawnshop before he could complete the transaction.
Albrecht also has another criminal case open in which he is accused of being in possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia.
He was stopped by an Arkansas State Police trooper on Aug. 7 last year for traffic violations, but the charges became more serious when a substance field testing positive for methamphetamine was found in the vehicle.
When Albrecht was asked to exit the vehicle, he is alleged to have handed the trooper a “dirty syringe” which he is reported to have admitted had been used to “shoot up meth.” Another syringe and the small quantity of meth were also located.
While in jail, Albrecht managed to pick up more charges, as well.
According to the probable cause in the newest case, Albrecht is alleged to have taken what appeared to be a broom handle, climbed on beds and dining tables and broke four sprinkler heads.
Surveillance video also showed other inmates encouraging Albrecht as he went from sprinkler-head-to-sprinkler-head.
It took about two hours to clean up the water released by the broken sprinkler heads, according to the probable cause affidavit.
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