Vernard Deatherage

Rabonna Ann Jones

     Two rural Gassville residents were arrested this morning when the Sheriff’s Office and assisting agencies served a search warrant and outstanding arrest warrants at 830 Buford Cutoff near Gassville.

     The investigation that resulted in obtaining the warrants came about as a result of an animal theft complaint the Sheriff’s Office received on February 2, 2017.  The complaint involved the theft of some cats in which the two arrestees were named as suspects by the complaining party. 

     As investigators looked into the complaint, the found that one of the suspects, 46 year old VERNARD DEATHERAGE, was a sex offender who has not registered with the Sheriff’s Office and also a parole absconder.  The second suspect, 40 year old RABONNA ANN JONES, who resided with DEATHERAGE, did not cooperate with officers during the investigation.  The Sheriff’s Office obtained bench warrants for the arrest of both DEATHERAGE and JONES, as well as a search warrant for the residence.  Those warrants were served at approximately 10:30 AM today. DEATHERAGE and JONES were both arrested and taken into custody without incident. 

     VERNARD DEATHERAGE had been convicted of statutory rape and sodomy in Douglas County, Missouri in February, 2002 involving two 9 year old girls.  Information indicates that he was released from the prison on September 15, 2016 on other, unrelated charges, but had not registered with law enforcement following his release as the law mandates. 

     During the search of the residence, officers found a .22 cal. Remington rifle, suspected marijuana, and paraphernalia. DEATHERAGE and JONES are both convicted felons and are prohibited from possessing firearms.

     VERNARD DEATHERAGE was booked into the Detention Center on charges of:

Failure to Register as Sex Offender – Baxter County Felony Warrant
Possession of Firearm by Certain Persons (convicted felon) – Felony
Possession of Schedule VI Controlled Substance (marijuana) – Misdemeanor
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia – Misdemeanor
Failure to Register as Sex Offender - Ozark County, Missouri Felony Warrant
Parole Violation – State of Missouri
Parole Absconder – State of Arkansas

     He has a bond of $15,000 on the Baxter County criminal charges and is being held without bond on the parole violation charges.  He will be given a date to appear in Circuit Court to answer.

     RABONNA JONES was booked into the Detention Center on charges of:

Possession of Firearm by Certain Persons (convicted felon) – Felony
Possession of Schedule VI Controlled Substance (marijuana) – Misdemeanor
Possession of Drug Paraphernalia – Misdemeanor
Obstructing Governmental Operations – Baxter County Misdemeanor Warrant

     She has a bond of $5,000 on her charges, and she will be given dates to appear in both District Court and Circuit Court to answer her charges.

     Agencies involved in serving the warrants and in the arrests were the Sheriff’s Office, Arkansas Department of Community Corrections, Arkansas Department of Corrections – Canine Team, and the 14th Judicial District Drug Task Force.

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff