16 Year Old Norfork Youth Charged with Residential Burglary and Theft of a Firearm

     March 19, 2011 at approximately 1:00 am, Baxter County Deputy Sheriff David Alkire initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle that was acting in a suspicious manner, near the rear of the Walmart Retail Store in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Deputy Alkire made contact with the driver and became more suspicious when the driver's answers were inconsistent with the Deputy's questions and was unable to produce a valid driver's license.

     The driver admitted to Deputy Alkire his next door neighbor was in the hospital and that he had stolen the vehicle from the neighbor's home. The driver was arrested and during the pat down search, Deputy Alkire found live 9mm ammunition rounds in the suspect's pocket. During the search of the vehicle, Deputies found a loaded semi automatic 9mm handgun under the front seat of the vehicle. The weapon had a full magazine with a live round in the weapon's chamber.

     Further investigation revealed that the suspect, a 16-year old juvenile from Norfork, had burglarized the neighbor's home, stealing the vehicle and the 9 mm handgun from the home. It is undetermined at this time if there was anything else that was taken by the youth. Authorities were able to confirm the neighbor was in the hospital at the time of the Burglary and Theft.

The 16 year old Juvenile was charged with:

Residential Burglary                        Class C Felony
Theft of a Firearm                             Class C Felony
Theft of a Motor Vehicle                 Class C Felony
Carrying a Prohibited Weapon      Class D Felony

     The Juvenile was turned over to Juvenile Authorities. He was transported to Juvenile Lockup pending his appearance in Baxter County Juvenile Court.

The investigation is continuing.

Sheriff John Montgomery