A man who enforced the law for 16 years before he started breaking it is back in jail after being declared a fugitive based on violations of the terms and conditions of his parole.
Fifty-four-year-old Jimmy Leon Bohannon was jailed just before 3 a.m. Sunday and is an inmate in the Baxter County jail on a no bond hold.
A Mountain Home police officer reported seeing a truck known to belong to Bohannon on East First Street. The vehicle pulled into the driveway of a residence and the officer saw a male, identified as Bohannon, exiting the truck. The officer approached Bohannon and handcuffed him.
During his law enforcement career, Bohannon served as police chief in the small East Arkansas town of Keiser.
According to court records in Mississippi County, Bohannon was arrested and charged with multiple thefts and a single drug related charge.
In one of the theft cases, the owners of a residence in Keiser reported they were robbed when they had to take their daughter to a hospital in Memphis.
They said they called the Keiser Police Department and asked then chief of police Bohannon to keep an eye on their home while they were out of town.
When one of the owners returned the next day to go to work, he found a rear door had been kicked open and various items were missing.
Ironically, Bohannon was reported to have made the initial investigative visit to the home after the burglary was reported.
In that case, according to investigative records, the call to the police department alerted Bohannon that the house would be vacant.
Other law enforcement agencies became involved and the investigation eventually led to Bohannon’s arrest.
A former drug officer with the Mississippi County Sheriff’s office was also tied to the crime and arrested. Both men were charged with residential burglary.
At some point, Bohannon moved to Baxter County. He was first arrested here in January 2017 when he fled from Mountain Home police officers after being pulled over on 8th Street.
Bohannon eventually ran into a home on Foster Street. The owner, who was outside when pursuing MHPD officers arrived, reported the suspect may have gone inside and went to check.
When Mountain Home officers entered the residence, they reported seeing the resident of the home holding Bohannon at gunpoint in a bedroom closet.
Bohannon is alleged to have asked the resident to shoot him.
He was also said to have elbowed a MHPD officer in the eye and striking him in the face and forehead with his fist several times.
Another Baxter County case against Bohannon was filed when he triggered a large-scale manhunt after walking off an inmate work detail at the Mountain Home Food Basket.
The search for Bohannon involved personnel and a helicopter from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, Mountain Home Police Department, Arkansas State Police troopers and a K-9 tracking team from the North Central Unit of the state prison system at Calico Rock.
Bohannon was sentenced to six years in prison.
He was reported to have cut off communication with his parole officer in Mountain Home and was officially listed as an absconder August 17.
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