What originally seemed to be the act of good Samaritans ended up with one of them arrested for stealing a truck belonging to an 84-year-old-woman.
Thirty-three-year-old Dusty Allan Rhoades who lists an address in Harriett is charged with theft by receiving and being a habitual offender.
He appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Monday and pled not guilty to the charges against him.
On March 17, the victim reported that her 2003 GMC truck had been taken from her residence.
She told investigators she had driven the truck to the Walker Cemetery located along County Road 25 and had gotten stuck.
Two men drove up on the scene and offered to help the elderly woman get her truck out of the ditch.
One of the men then offered to drive the truck to the woman’s residence. He was reported to have returned the key ring after the trip, but it was discovered after the theft that the key to the ignition had been removed.
The victim said a short time later, the men returned to her house and the man who had driven her home got into the truck and left.
On March 25, Rhoades was reported to have been seen on security cameras in possession of the stolen truck while at a convenience store along Buzzard Roost Road.
Rhoades was seen inside the store and then driving off in the truck.
The next day, the truck was found abandoned in rural Stone County.
Another vehicle was stolen near the area, and Rhoades is charged in Stone County with crimes stemming from that theft.
While Stone County sheriff’s deputies were investigating the abandoned truck stolen from Baxter County, a man approached them and reported he lived nearby and had discovered that his shop and residence had been entered.
He told deputies that a 2002 white Dodge pickup had also been taken from his property.
Investigators said a door in the residence had been pried open in an area near where the residents slept.
An Arkansas State Police trooper stopped the stolen Dodge Pickup on the day it was reported to have been taken and arrested Rhoades.
The ignition key to the GMC pickup stolen from the elderly woman was found in the second truck as well as items taken from the residence in Stone County.
The charges against Rhoades in Stone County include residential burglary, breaking or entering and theft of property.
Rhoades is reported to be on active felony probation and to have four previous felony convictions.
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