Vincent Paul DeLong pled guilty to charges in seven criminal cases and was sentenced to 15 years in prison during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
According to electronic court records, there were five open cases in Marion County and two in Baxter.
On most court documents, DeLong’s address is listed as Bull Shoals.
He faced a long string of charges, including possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, theft of property, fraudulent use of a credit or debit card, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, being a felon in possession of a firearm, theft by receiving, possessing an instrument of crime and 15 counts of forgery.
As initially charged, the crimes allegedly committed by DeLong range from Class Y felonies to misdemeanor traffic infractions. Class Y felonies are the most serious classification of crimes in Arkansas not punishable by death.
The Class Y felonies were reduced in seriousness during the process of arriving at a plea agreement in DeLong’s cases.
MARION COUNTY CASES
In a theft of property case filed in mid-December last year in Marion County DeLong is charged with forging checks on the account of a person who died in April 2020, and depositing them in an account he opened in a Yellville bank on October 10, 2022
In a seven-day span in November of last year, DeLong is accused of depositing 15 forged checks totaling almost $31,000 into that account.
In several of the cases against DeLong, he is charged with possessing drugs or selling them. In one arrest that took place in August last year, DeLong was driving a vehicle on U.S. Highway 62/412 when he was pulled over by Marion County sheriff’s deputy.
Different types of drugs were found in the vehicle and a handgun was located underneath a seat. Because DeLong had been found guilty of felony offenses in both Texas and Arizona, he was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The vehicle DeLong was driving had been reported stolen by Harrison police.
In mid-October 2021, DeLong stayed the night at a person’s residence in Marion County. After he left the next day, the victim received a call from the Flippin Walmart asking for authorization for a $131 transaction.
Surveillance video from the store showed DeLong had tried to buy a radar detector, prompting the call to the victim.
After declining the authorization, the victim searched and found that her checkbook and a credit card were missing from her purse.
There were other checks belonging to the victim cashed or deposited in DeLong’s bank account. He is accused of using an unwitting relative to provide a third party signature on two of those checks.
The relative contacted police after he discovered what had happened and said Delong had told him that his bank account was overdrawn and he needed the relative to sign the checks to make them acceptable at the bank.
BAXTER COUNTY CASES
The Baxter County cases on DeLong both stem from incidents in which drugs and drug paraphernalia were found in vehicles DeLong had been driving.
In one case filed in January, DeLong and his passenger were said to have pointed the finger at each other when it came to saying who was driving a vehicle involved in an accident.
A female initially said she was the one driving until she was told drug paraphernalia and a weapon had been found in the vehicle. She then switched her story and told investigators DeLong was driving.
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