A reportedly homeless man who robbed a local federal credit union last year was sentenced to 16 years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to felony charges in Garland County Circuit Court.
Johnathon Eric Brown, 32, who has remained in custody since his arrest Aug. 9, 2017, pleaded guilty to robbery, amended from an original charge of aggravated robbery, and was sentenced to 16 years, and second-degree forgery and was sentenced to 10 years, to run concurrently. He was also ordered to pay $340 in court costs.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Aug. 4, 2017, Hot Springs police responded to the Combined Federal Credit Union, 203 Nash St., in reference to a robbery shortly before 4:30 p.m. A female employee stated that an unknown man had just robbed the business, and gave his description.
She said he came into the business and slid her a note across the counter that stated "This is a robbery cooperate and we will all survive."
The employee told officers she asked the man if this was a joke, and he told her "no and to hurry." She then told the man she did not have any money. When the suspect questioned her response, she called for another employee.
The second employee stated she saw the man enter the credit union and hand the employee at the counter a note demanding money. He fled on foot after receiving money in a beige canvas bag provided by the employees.
On Aug. 7, Detective Mark Fallis was contacted by a fellow officer who had seen a photo of the suspect that had been dispersed to police department personnel and believed it to be Brown, his former son-in-law.
Fallis obtained photos of Brown from past arrest records, as well as his driver's license, and confirmed Brown closely resembled the photo of the suspect from the robbery.
On Aug. 8, Fallis showed one of the employees from the credit union a photo lineup that contained Brown's photo and five other males of a similar age and similar characteristics and she identified Brown as the robber.
A warrant for Brown was issued that same day and his photo was included in a news release posted on social media and he was taken into custody the next day. At the time of his arrest, Brown listed no current address.
The forgery charge stemmed from a 2016 warrant. According to the affidavit, Brown stole four checks from Frosty Treat, 1020 E. Grand, cashing one of them on Nov. 14, 2016.
The check was issued to Brown, and the memo line read, "For Frosty Treat." An Arkansas driver's license number and date of birth were recorded on the check by the bank's cashier.
Detective Patrick Langley reviewed the footage from the bank where the check was cashed, and compared it to Brown's driver's license photo and confirmed Brown had cashed the check, totaling $323.
Local on 08/16/2018