Man pleads guilty to theft of vehicle
A local man pleaded guilty Monday in Garland County Circuit Court to a felony theft charge stemming from a stolen vehicle last year.
Akee’Jae Cordell Bryant, 19, who lists a Breeze Street address, pleaded guilty to theft by receiving over $5,000 while an additional misdemeanor charge of possession of a controlled substance was withdrawn. He was sentenced to five years’ probation, fined $2,500 and ordered to pay $420 in court costs.
According to the affidavit, on Dec. 27, 2016, around 3:15 p.m., Hot Springs police Cpl. LeeAnn Zaner and Officer McCauley responded to a residence in the 100 block of Mount Ida Street regarding a vehicle, a silver 2012 Ford Edge, valued at $15,000, that had been reported stolen in the county being found parked there, locked, with no keys in view.
A male witness, 8, said he saw a black male teen park and exit the vehicle and walk away west on Mount Ida toward Breeze Street. He described the teen as having dreadlocks with blond tips and wearing pink house shoes. The witness said he believed he knew the suspect and that he lived on Breeze Street.
The owner of the vehicle responded to the scene and discovered several items that didn’t belong to him that had been left in the vehicle.
A female witness, 8, said she had seen “the man” on a back porch on Breeze Street where Zaner and McCauley located Bryant and detained him. He was searched and the key to the stolen vehicle was found in his pants pocket along with a baggie with 1.1 gram of what later tested positive for marijuana.
Bryant was taken into custody and later released on $4,500 bond. He was arrested again April 7, 2017, while still out on bond, after a traffic stop and charged with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms, theft by receiving, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of methamphetamine with purpose to deliver.
Bryant has remained in custody in lieu of $35,000 bond since that arrest and those charges are still pending in Garland County District Court with a hearing set for June 5.