Wesley Barger Jr. (Photo courtesy of Marion County Sheriff’s Office)
A Mountain Home man charged with multiple counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, theft of property and residential burglary was scheduled to appear during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
Forty-two-year-old Wesley Ray Barger Jr. did not show up, and it was announced he that he was locked up in the Marion County Law Enforcement Center on other charges.
Circuit Judge John Putman said he was due in Marion County Wednesday and would try to deal with both of Barger’s cases. A reappearance date was also set for Jan. 6 in the Baxter County case.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the victim of the Baxter County theft was an 83-year-old man who lived along Old Tracy Ferry Road.
The man had once owned a pawn shop in Mountain Home and many items from the shop were stored in and around his home. The items included firearms and a knife collection valued at about $25,000.
When a tornado came through the area, trees on the victim’s property were damaged by high winds.
The victim was introduced to Barger and he hired him to do storm cleanup on the man’s property. The victim said he did not allow Barger in the house unless he was at home.
In August, the victim reported finding part of a box which held a new rifle in his bathroom and the other part of the box outside the bathroom window. The rifle was missing.
At that point, the victim said a check showed he was missing a large number of firearms, a Case Knife collection and other items.
A witness told investigators she met Barger at a service station at the corner of Buzzard Roost Road and the U.S. Highway 62 bypass where she worked.
She said Barger asked to put some guns in her storage unit at a complex on Buzzard Roost Road so he could get them out of his car and she agreed.
Another person offered to buy some of the stored guns, and they were delivered to him. When it was learned the guns had been stolen, the buyer returned them to the victim without compensation.
He told investigators he was unaware that the guns had been reported stolen.
Other people were able to get some stolen items back from Barger. A person who worked for the victim cleaning his house contacted Barger and retrieved three rifles and a welding machine which had been taken.
While visiting relatives, the victim got a text from Barger telling him to meet him at a location on Arkansas Highway 5 South. The victim went to the meeting and Barger returned the new rifle that had been in the box that was found partly in the bathroom floor and partly outside the bathroom window. It was reported to have new scratches at the top of the stock.
The victim was accompanied to the meeting by his son-in-law who followed behind to ensure the older man’s safety.
Barger also returned a bag of knives to the victim. Only six or seven of the knives were reported to have been stolen. A set of binoculars was also returned.
At the time the probable cause affidavit was written, 10 guns had been returned through various channels, leaving seven handguns missing from the victim’s residence still unaccounted for along with an unknown number of other weapons.
Investigators said that while Barger was working for the victim, “when the opportunity would present itself, he would enter the residence through the bathroom window.”
At the time of the robbery, Barger was being supervised by the probation/parole office. His record shows him to have three previous felony convictions.
His bond on the Baxter County charges is set at $25,000.
Barger also got in trouble in Marion County when officers went to his place of employment in Yellville to arrest him on the Baxter County warrant issued in his new case.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Barger was brought to a room, but when he saw the officers, he started to turn around.
The officers ordered him to stop and informed him he was under arrest but Barger did not heed the commands.
Barger was said to have “wedged himself in the doorway of a room” so officers could not pull him out into a hallway.
A Taser was used and Barger fell to the floor but continued to resist until the officers were able to place cuffs on him.
After Barger was restrained, officers found a small brown bag containing a substance field-testing positive for methamphetamine, a glass smoking pipe and four Xanax pills.
Security camera footage was reviewed and Barger was seen dropping the drugs near the door of the room.
His charges in Marion County include possession of methamphetamine and Xanax pills, as well as the smoking pipe.
He was also charged with refusal to submit to arrest. The bond in Marion County is set at $5,000.
According to court records, Barger was on parole at the time of his arrest. In 2019, he pled to a number of charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with nine to serve and one suspended.
In the earlier cases, Barger was charged with selling drugs from a local motel, selling drugs to a person working with law enforcement and, attempting to steal a laptop from Walmart by shoving it down his pants.
He also had misdemeanor charges for pushing his way into his ex-wife’s house and causing a disturbance. He was reported to have fled the home when he met resistance from his ex-wife and her sister.
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