Ankle bracelet leads to arrest

Smith
Smith

A Malvern man was arrested on Sunday for allegedly burglarizing a local diner last month after the GPS signal from his ankle bracelet reportedly showed him at the scene around the time it was burglarized.

Christopher Allen Smith, 31, was taken into custody in Hot Spring County around 8 p.m. and charged with felony commercial burglary, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

He was being held on $3,500 bond and appeared in Garland County District Court on Monday.

According to the probable cause affidavit, on June 10 the owner of Mel's Diner, 4889 Malvern Ave., reported that a burglary had occurred at the business the night before. The suspect, later identified as Smith, reportedly made a phone call using the diner's phone and investigators were able to find him based on that call.

A man, later thought to be Smith, had reportedly been dropped off at the diner by three other men at around 1 p.m. June 9. After ordering food, the man reportedly told the owner he could not pay for his meal. She decided to let him continue eating the meal until he allegedly became belligerent.

The owner reportedly noted she could smell alcohol on his breath and asked him to leave when he refused to calm down. The manager also said one of her employees saw the same man "passed out" in a gravel lot.

Later that night, Garland County sheriff's deputies responded to an alarm call at the diner at around 7:30 p.m. Someone had reportedly broken the glass on the front door and taken about $1,775 worth of food.

The manager noted that a call was made from the diner's phone. AT&T provided the manager with the name of the person who received the call and she found the woman on Facebook. While searching the woman's account, the manager reportedly noticed the man in her profile picture looked similar to the man who had caused problems at the diner earlier that day.

The manager called the number and spoke with the woman Smith had reportedly called the night of the burglary. The woman reportedly said, "I didn't do anything, I just picked him up." A man then got on the phone and told her the person she was looking for was Chris Smith. The manager then gave all the information to investigators.

After Investigator Brandon Huckaba was able to identify everyone the manager had told him about, he interviewed Smith, who was found to be on probation out of Hot Spring County. Smith, who claimed he rarely comes to Hot Springs, reportedly provided an alibi that did not check out.

After Huckaba made contact with Smith's probation officer, he learned that Smith's ankle monitor placed him near Mel's Diner around the time of the burglary and then traveling back to Malvern.

Local on 07/03/2018

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