Lawrence J. Olson

     The Baxter County Sheriff's Office arrested a Christmas Day burglar this afternoon when deputies were called to a house on Robinson Point Road concerning a possible break-in.  The house is the residence of Allison June Cunningham, who was recently arrested on First Degree Murder and other charges and is currently in the Hildago County Jail in Texas awaiting extradition back to Baxter County to face those charges here.

     A neighbor had been keeping an eye on the house for several days.  On December 23rd, the Sheriff's Office had been called to the house because a break-in had been discovered.  Today, the neighbor looked inside the windows of the residence and saw that some clothing and other items that had been on the couch were now on the floor and called the Sheriff's Office again.  The complainant/neighbor checked underneath the house through the crawl space and found a hole going from under the house to the garage.

     While deputies were there, the neighbor made entry into the house through a back window.  Once inside the house, he found a man lying underneath one of the beds in the house.  Deputy Craig Kocka and Sgt. Ken Grayham went inside through the front door and made contact with this person, who was identified as 52 year old LAWRENCE J. OLSON of Mountain Home.  He was completely dressed in camouflage clothing.   OLSON was placed in restraints and detained.  He told deputies he had permission from the owner to be inside the house and claimed he went inside to take a quick nap.  OLSON was searched.  Deputies found various articles of jewelry, debit cards, and many other items belonging to the homeowner, Allison Cunningham, in the clothing OLSON was wearing.  Deputies contacted Allison Cunningham through the Hildago County Jail staff, and she advised that OLSON did not have any permission to be in her residence or be in possession of her property.

     LAWRENCE OLSON was arrested and transported to the Baxter County Detention Center where he was booked on charges of:

Residential Burglary - Felony
Theft of Property - Felony

     OLSON has a bond of $25,000 on those charges and will appear before the Circuit Court to answer at a later date.

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff