Parole for a Mountain Home man who has had 21 criminal cases opened on him since 2007 has been approved.
The last time 36-year-old William (Billy) Lewis was in Baxter County Circuit Court was in December 2021 when he went on trial on a single case, but ended the trial when he agreed to plead guilty to charges in all 11 criminal cases then open on him.
In the single case set for trial, Lewis was charged with stealing catalytic converters from vehicles parked on property owned by the father of his now ex-wife, 37-year-old Heather Lewis.
After the trial was scrubbed, Lewis entered his guilty plea to all of his charges and was sentenced to six years in prison and put on probation for 20 years. He is currently an inmate at the Northeast Arkansas Community Corrections Center in Osceola.
If Lewis violates the terms and conditions of his 20 year probation, he could face up to 300 years in prison in that the judge at his discretion could stack the sentences handed down in each case. They are now set to run concurrently – or at the same time.
Since 2007, 21 criminal cases have been opened on Lewis.
ESTRANGED WIFE TAKES BLAME
Lewis’ then estranged wife turned the shortened 2021 jury trial in an entirely different direction when she testified.
She told the court that she was the only one guilty of the January 25, 2020 theft of catalytic converters, a diamond ring and earrings from her parents’ property on County Road 69.
She said that she had “tricked and deceived” her husband into participating in the theft.
Heather Lewis told the court she had told her husband she had permission from her father to take the converters, “because money was tight” for her.
Heather Lewis testified there was no reason for her husband to be suspicious, “because my family helped me out all the time.”
Her drug addiction was responsible for the money problem. She admitted on the stand that she was a methamphetamine addict at the time, and that she used syringes to ingest the drug.
In mid-May 2020 Heather Lewis pled guilty to charges in several cases, including the thefts at her parents’ home.
She was sentenced to seven years in prison. Electronic records show her to be an inmate in the McPherson Unit of the state prison system at Newport.
William Lewis, citing irreconcilable differences, filed for divorce from Heather Lewis April 4, 2021. The final decree was filed in December 2021.
Charges against him have included possessing drugs and drug paraphernalia, theft of property, theft by receiving and unauthorized use of another person’s property to facilitate a crime. While in jail, he also picked up charges stemming from his alleged involvement in the theft of drugs from a medication cart, including 118 Suboxone strips.
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