A suspect sought on multiple felony charges in connection with a June home invasion robbery was arrested Wednesday morning at a local hospital where he was taken after an apparent attempted suicide.
Dustin Kenneth Wallace, 31, who lists an address of 190 Bonanza Trail in Pearcy, was taken into custody around 10 a.m. at CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated residential burglary, each punishable by up to life in prison, and kidnapping, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Wallace, who also had warrants for two counts of failure to appear, was still being held without bond Thursday and is set to appear Aug. 12 in Garland County District Court.
According to the affidavit, on June 6, Hot Springs police responded to a report of a robbery at a residence in the 200 block of Stearns Point and spoke to the female victim, 55, who stated she had been home asleep when she was awakened around 1 a.m. by an unknown white male in her bedroom brandishing a knife.
She said the man had the bottom of his face covered and was wearing gloves and dark clothing, including a windbreaker and sweatpants, but noted he was about 6 feet tall, weighing 200 pounds with short, light-brown hair.
She said the suspect ordered her to give him all her money, but she only had a few dollars. He made her get up and retrieve her car keys and debit card, and then forced her to drive to the closest ATM at Diamond Bank, 1136 Airport Road, where he made her withdraw $500.
He then made her drive back to her house, taking an alternate longer route, and then led her back into her bedroom where he began asking her about other valuables she might have in the house.
After several minutes, the suspect took her cellphone and a lighter and left the residence. The victim waited several minutes and then ran next door to the home of a neighbor who called 911.
Responding officers located her cellphone hidden in the house and determined that the suspect had apparently gained entry by crawling through an unsecured dog door at the rear of the residence.
On June 9, HSPD detective S. Lampinen was able to access security footage from Hamilton Harbor Resort, located at 203 Stearns Point, near the victim's residence, and reviewed video from the morning of the robbery with employees of the condos.
He located footage from approximately 12:21 a.m. which showed a tenant of one of the condos, identified as Wallace, walking into the complex from the area near where the victim lived and Lampinen noted he was wearing dark clothing that matched the description given by the victim.
Wallace entered his unit, but then was seen exiting about 30 minutes later, which was just a few minutes before the time the victim said she was awakened by the suspect.
Wallace was allegedly seen leaving the condo complex and again walking toward the victim's residence, still wearing the dark clothing like she had described. At approximately 1:26 a.m., the victim's vehicle was seen leaving the residence and headed toward Weston Road. The vehicle was seen returning at approximately 1:40 a.m.
Wallace was seen again at 2:03 a.m. walking back into the condo complex and Lampinen noted he was no longer wearing the dark sweatpants. About 16 minutes later, the victim's neighbor called 911.
While Lampinen was at Hamilton Harbor reviewing the video, employees told him Wallace had just returned and the detective watched him in the parking lot and noted he roughly matched the physical description given by the victim as to approximate height and weight and having short brown hair.
After further investigation, warrants were issued for Wallace on the multiple charges on June 11 and he was featured in the June 14 edition of The Sentinel-Record as a "Most Wanted" suspect.
According to reports, shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday, Garland County sheriff's Deputy Charles Delahunt responded to a report of an apparent attempted suicide at a residence in the 500 block of Rockcreek Road and found a male, identified as Wallace, who had reportedly taken numerous pills and was unconscious.
He was transported by LifeNet to St. Vincent and kept overnight and then taken into custody Wednesday morning.
Local on 08/01/2014