Habitual offender sentenced to prison for theft of train set

Luker
Luker

A habitual offender was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison Thursday after pleading guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to stealing items from a home last year, including a $2,000 train set collection.

Eric Wayne Luker, 32, who lists a Marion Anderson address, pleaded guilty to a felony count of theft of property more than $1,000, normally punishable by up to six years in prison, and was sentenced to 90 months because of his status as a habitual offender, which he admitted to Thursday.

Luker was previously convicted Feb. 21, 2012, in Garland County for nonsupport; on June 25, 2012, in Pulaski County for second-degree domestic battery; and on Aug. 8, 2015, in Garland County for possession of a controlled substance, cocaine, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison and was out on parole.

According to the probable cause affidavit, on Feb. 1, 2017, a local man reported that someone had entered the garage of his residence on South Moore Road and took several items, including a chain saw and a weed trimmer and entered his home and took an "N" Gauge train set collection, valued at $2,000, that was stored in a closet.

The victim told Garland County sheriff's Investigator Russell Severns he had allowed a house guest to stay in his home for about five days who had offered to clean his garage for him. He later learned that two men, including Luker, came to his house without his permission and removed the items from the house and garage.

Severns checked Leads Online and discovered that on Jan. 25, 2017, Luker had sold a chain saw and miscellaneous trains and train set parts at a Hot Springs pawnshop. That same day, Luker pawned a weed trimmer at another local pawnshop. His alleged accomplice had also sold miscellaneous train parts to a pawnshop.

Luker was arrested Feb. 10, 2017, and released on $2,500 11 days later. He was set to stand trial Tuesday in circuit court, but failed to appear in court so a bench warrant was issued for his arrest on a felony charge of failure to appear. He was taken into custody Thursday and brought to circuit court that afternoon where he opted to plead guilty to the theft charge.

Judge Marcia Hearnsberger withdrew the failure to appear charge after Luker apologized and said he overslept Tuesday, causing him to miss his court hearing.

Local on 03/31/2018

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