A Van Buren man was sentenced to five years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to burglarizing his sister's house in Mountain Pine last year.
Marshall Oren Elmore, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of residential burglary and in addition to prison time was ordered to pay $170 in court costs and $500 in restitution to the victim through a civil judgment.
According to the affidavit, on March 23, 2013, the victim reported a burglary at her residence on Seventh Street in Mountain Pine in which an Apple iPad and a Nintendo Wii, each valued at $200, were stolen.
On April 18, the victim told Garland County sheriff's investigators that two of her neighbors had seen her brother, identified as Elmore, at her residence at the time of the burglary.
On May 9, investigators interviewed one neighbor who stated he had seen Elmore exit the back door of the victim's residence as the victim was backing out of her driveway. He stated Elmore, whom he knows, went to the back of the residence and attempted to jump the fence, but fell.
He stated Elmore then got on the back porch, hopped over the fence and walked toward the back alley. He noted Elmore was carrying a white plastic Wal-Mart bag when he left the residence, but he couldn't tell what was inside.
The neighbor said he assumed the victim knew Elmore was there since she had just exited the residence before he saw him. The victim later stated she had only been home for a few minutes and that Elmore must have been hiding inside the residence when she got there.
A warrant for Elmore was issued and he was arrested July 26 and later released on $5,000 bond.
• A local parolee was sentenced to six years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to a felony drug charge from his arrest earlier this year.
Patrick Jason Woodall, 32, who was on parole from his previous conviction for two counts of residential burglary in Garland County, pleaded guilty in circuit court to possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine, with his six-year sentence to run concurrently with his sentence from the violation of his parole.
Woodall was also ordered to pay $295 in court costs upon his release from prison.
According to reports, on Jan. 1, shortly after 8 p.m., Hot Springs police Officer A. Halpin responded to Wal-Mart, 4019 Central Ave., regarding a shoplifting and spoke to the loss prevention officer, Robert Hopper, who stated he had seen the suspect, identified as Woodall, conceal two batteries and then attempt to leave the store without paying.
Halpin took Woodall into custody and during a routine pat-down search he found a plastic baggie in his back pocket that contained 0.1 gram of a white powder substance that later field tested positive for meth.
Woodall was arrested at that point on the felony drug charge and later released on $3,500 bond.
Local on 07/23/2014