An Arkadelphia man was arrested on felony warrants Monday for allegedly burglarizing the offices of the American Red Cross in Hot Springs early last year and stealing one of the organization's vehicles.
David Michael Gullett, 40, was taken into custody around 11:45 a.m. and charged with theft of property more than $25,000, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and commercial burglary, punishable by up to 10 years.
Gullett, who also had warrants for two counts of failure to appear, remained in custody Tuesday on zero bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Jan. 16, 2017, Andrea Sellers, disaster program specialist for the southwest region of the Greater Arkansas Chapter of the Red Cross. reported a burglary at the Red Cross offices, located at 1820 Central Ave., Suite P.
She said someone had entered the office between noon on Jan. 14 and 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 16 and went through her desk drawers and front desk drawers, located a key to a safe box and removed an unknown amount of debit cards. She noted the cards would have to be activated to obtain any money.
A laptop computer, valued at $500, and a Red Cross backpack were taken, along with the keys to a 2011 Toyota Tundra, valued at $26,700, which was stolen from the parking lot outside the building.
Surveillance video showed a white male enter and exit the building and later leave in the truck. On Jan. 22, 2017, the truck was located in the parking lot at Walmart, 4019 Central Ave.
The next day, a witness contacted Hot Springs police Detective Les Jessup and told him Gullett had picked him up at his residence in Melbourne and drove him to Hot Springs in a Toyota Tundra truck. He noted the vehicle still had the emergency responder license plate and when he confronted Gullett about it he reportedly admitted he had stolen it.
The witness said the truck ran out of gas at Walmart and they pushed it into a parking space and left it. Warrants were later issued for Gullett's arrest.
Local on 08/15/2018