Social media posts lead to the arrest of a local man Wednesday evening on felony warrants for the alleged burglary of a local restaurant in January.
Sean Christopher Singleton, 38, of 223 Wood St., was taken into custody at his residence around 5 p.m. on felony charges of commercial burglary, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and theft of property over $1,000, punishable by up to six years.
Singleton, who also had a warrant for failure to appear, remained in custody Thursday in lieu of $6,000 bond and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, on Jan. 10, the manager of 501 Prime, 215 E. Grand Ave., reported a burglary that had occurred at the restaurant on Jan. 4, shortly after 8 a.m.
The male robber could be seen on surveillance video entering the rear of the business wearing a large coat, a wig and a gray hooded sweatshirt pulled over his head. The robber's face could be clearly seen in the video, the affidavit states.
The robber is seen entering the restaurant while it was closed, going upstairs to the locked offices and entering through an unlocked rear door after passing the locked doors. He allegedly removed $1,100 from petty cash and tip outs from the waiting staff that were kept in the office.
The robber was then seen leaving through the same door he entered after about five minutes. An employee had just unlocked the rear door for another employee to arrive. The employee was using the restroom when he heard the man enter the restaurant.
When the employee heard the rear door bug fan running again after the man left, "he knew something wasn't right," the affidavit states, and ran out the back door looking for whoever just left.
He encountered the man in the parking lot dropping money, but "at first glance" thought it was a woman because of the wig the robber was wearing and helped him pick up the dropped money.
It was later discovered that the office had been burglarized and it was the man in the parking lot who took the money.
A still photo of the robber was posted on the Hot Springs Police Department's Facebook page and detectives received an anonymous tip that the robber was Singleton. Detective John Hammons was able to obtain a photo of Singleton for comparison and reportedly identified him as the robber in the video.
Local on 05/24/2019