A habitual offender caught breaking into a vehicle last year was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to felony charges in Garland County Circuit Court.
Deundrea Matreas Mathis, 33, of Hot Springs, pleaded guilty to breaking or entering and felony failure to appear and was sentenced to three years on each count, to run concurrently, and ordered to pay $340 in court costs.
He also admitted to his status as a habitual offender having been previously convicted in 2004 in Craighead County for possession of a controlled substance, cocaine, with intent to deliver; in 2009 in Monroe County for theft by receiving; in 2010 in St. Francis County for theft by receiving; and in 2012 in Craighead County for theft by receiving.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on July 6, 2017, shortly before 6:30 p.m., Hot Springs police responded to a breaking or entering in progress in a parking lot in the 500 block of Valley Street. A caller reported seeing a man running away from a black Jeep Cherokee that had a broken window with the vehicle's alarm going off.
Cpl. Zac Rostan arrived at the scene within minutes, located the Jeep and noted movement inside that he discovered was a man, later identified as Mathis, hunched over messing with the ignition. Mathis exited the vehicle and started walking away when Rostan ordered him to stop.
When asked what he was doing, Mathis said he had seen "a kid messing with the car" and was just checking to see what he had been doing. Rostan detained him in his unit and asked him again what he had been doing and Mathis finally admitted he broke the window using a rock and claimed he did it "because he was bored."
Mathis was charged with breaking or entering and was released on $5,000 bond on Sept. 21. He failed to appear for a court hearing on Oct. 10 so a warrant was issued and he was arrested again on Nov. 5 and had remained in custody since.
Local on 01/11/2018