Brandon Terrell (Photo courtesy of Baxter County Sheriff’s Office)
A Mountain Home man is accused of stealing items from a local welding business and selling them during a two-month period. Twenty-seven-year-old Brandon Terrell is facing a felony count of theft of property and a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a Baxter County deputy was dispatched Nov. 20 to the business on Cannie Baker Road. The victim stated he made a report the previous day of items stolen from his business, including old trailer brake drums, a small generator, an aluminum oil cooler, an antique boat motor and other items that could be scrapped. The male said the items were worth several thousand dollars at a scrap yard.
The complainant also said the security camera on the property messaged his phone and notified him of a small silver vehicle with dark-tinted windows, a sunroof and a spoiler on the trunk area. A male was also captured on the video walking around outside the vehicle, and the victim’s son stated a neighbor in the area witnessed a vehicle matching the description on the property at around 5 on the morning of Nov. 10 and called the tag number in as a suspicious vehicle.
On Nov. 27, the victim notified a Baxter County investigator the individual returned to the property four days earlier and disabled the camera. The suspect had allegedly removed the rechargeable battery and the secure digital card.
The investigator later received a tip Dec. 12 of a vehicle matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle at a local scrap yard the day before. The subject, described as a slender-built white male in his 20s, was there to sell some items. He had reportedly scrapped multiple items since October.
The investigator later spoke again with the victim, who provided the name and number of the neighbor originally seeing the suspect’s vehicle. The investigator contacted the witness, who stated he observed a male matching the description at the welding business Nov. 10. The witness reportedly followed the subject in his vehicle while he was on the phone with 911. The witness provided the tag number to the 911 dispatcher and stopped following the vehicle after it made a U-turn by a Mountain Home restaurant on Arkansas Highway 5 North.
Baxter County 911 located the call made by the witness, and the tag number matched the same vehicle at the scrap yard. The subject was identified as Terrell. Another investigator went to Terrell’s residence, but he wasn’t there.
The original investigator and the victim looked at the Leads Online scrap record for Terrell. The owner estimated his welding business was a victim to theft from sometime in October through Nov. 23.
Terrell was eventually arrested and booked into the Baxter County Detention Center on Dec. 29. He was released less than an hour later after posting a bond of $5,000.
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