A former Baxter County Jail Inmate is in custody again after being charged with stealing property of another jail inmate when he was last released from the Detention Center on May 21, 2011. 

     Matthew E. Tillery, 27 years old of Cotter, Arkansas, was incarcerated in the Detention Center from May 4^th to May 21^st on charges of Failure to Appear in Court and Non Payment of Fines.  During the release procedure, Tillery reached into the property box of another jail inmate and took a property bag belonging to that person.  In the property bag was a cellular phone, a wallet with credit cards, driver’s license, social security card, and an insurance card, and also a checkbook.  This event was recorded on video surveillance equipment in the Detention Center and was discovered two days later on May 23^rd.   

     Sheriff’s Investigators used this evidence to obtain a warrant for the arrest of Matthew Tillery, and he was arrested without incident on July 12^th.  Matthew Tillery is currently being held in custody on both one felony and one misdemeanor count of Theft of Property, with bond set at $5,000.  He will appear in Baxter County Circuit Court on July 14^th. 

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff