A local man pleaded guilty last week to multiple charges stemming from two separate incidents in 2013, including one where he almost ran over a man while stealing his pickup.
Sean Michael Dickson, 33, was set to stand trial Thursday, but opted to plead guilty to felony counts of aggravated assault and theft of property more than $1,000 and a misdemeanor count of theft of property less than $1,000 and was sentenced to six years in prison, with three years suspended, on each count to run concurrently.
Dickson, who was previously convicted of a felony count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver marijuana in 1998 in Garland County, was also ordered to pay $4,000 in restitution to one victim and $420 in court costs.
An additional felony charge of assisting in or furnishing an implement of escape, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, is still pending against Dickson. The charge stems from an allegation he helped his wife, Mandy Rose Cavanaugh, 26, escape custody on March 18, 2014. He was arrested 10 days later and is set to stand trial on the charge March 16.
According to the affidavit on the aggravated assault and misdemeanor theft charge, on Oct. 30, 2013, a local man filed a report stating he went to his property on Huddleston Springs Road around 2 p.m. that day and discovered his 1968 Chevrolet pickup was missing.
The victim then saw a man loading the victim's pickup onto a trailer hitched to a black Chevrolet pickup. The suspect attempted to leave the property when the victim yelled at him. The victim called 911 and attempted to get the suspect to stop and struck the hood of the black pickup with a pipe.
The victim noted the suspect almost ran over him while he was fleeing and he was able to get the license plate.
The next day, the victim checked local scrap yards and discovered his pickup had been sold to TRG, located at 4400 Malvern Ave., for $524.80 by Cavanaugh, Dickson's wife. Photos from TRG also showed the black pickup, which was found to be registered to Dickson.
The victim later positively identified Dickson in a photo lineup as the one who had stolen his pickup and tried to run over him.
According to the affidavit on the felony theft charge, on Oct. 15, 2013, the owner of Boogie's Bar and Grill, 1000 E. Grand Ave., reported the theft of an orange, 7-foot tall, barrel-shaped steel grillsmoker, valued at $4,000, from behind his business.
In reviewing video from the bar's security cameras, a black Chevrolet pickup pulling a trailer is seen entering the lot shortly before 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 13 and pulling behind the building, and it was noted the grill could be seen on the trailer when the pickup left about 10 minutes later.
On Oct. 16, a relative of the owner said he spotted the pickup from the video and was able to see the license plates from the vehicle and the trailer, both of which were found to be registered to Dickson, and it was determined he was staying at a residence on Marion Anderson Road at that time.
The next day, a woman staying at the residence told Hot Springs police detectives the owner of the pickup was staying there and she had seen him with a large orange barrel on the trailer and when she asked him what it was he told her it was a grill. She was shown a photo of the stolen grill and confirmed that was the one she had seen.
That same day, a traffic stop was made on the pickup and trailer and contact made with Dickson who was asked to come in for questioning, but he refused. Dickson was released at that time, but a warrant for his arrest on the theft charge was issued Nov. 1 and he was arrested Nov. 13 and later served with the warrants from the Oct. 30 theft and assault.
Local on 01/28/2015