Convicted felon sentenced to prison for having firearm
A Lonsdale woman convicted in 2013 of assaulting a man and holding him hostage by tying him to a stove is on her way back to prison after pleading guilty Monday in Garland County Circuit Court to being in possession of a firearm.
Allie Loran Burnett, 28, who was convicted Feb. 26, 2013, of second-degree battery and first-degree false imprisonment and sentenced to four years in prison, pleaded guilty Monday to a felony count of possession of a firearm by certain persons and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Burnett was arrested Jan. 29, 2017, along with another convicted felon, Steven Anthony Varnes, 38, after Garland County sheriff’s deputies responded to a disturbance at their Lonsdale residence involving a gun.
According to the affidavit, deputies made contact with Varnes upon their arrival and he became upset because he felt they were trespassing on his property. After determining Varnes had warrants for his arrest, he was taken into custody and then they made contact with Burnett, who initially gave them a false name.
The deputies determined her true identity and discovered she also had a warrant for a probation violation. While talking with Burnett, deputies spotted a pistol on a desk near the front door, which Burnett admitted a family member had given to her. It was later confirmed Burnett was a convicted felon prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm.
Burnett was previously arrested April 25, 2012, along with an accomplice, Daryl Butler Chaney, 35,
on felony charges of kidnapping and second-degree battery. Chaney had pleaded guilty to the charges on Feb. 12, 2013, and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Former Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Lawrence had said both plea arrangements were done with the consent of the victim, Michael Herndon Sheets, 54, who didn’t want to have to testify at trial and had indicated “he didn’t want them to do an enormous amount of time but wanted them to serve some time.”
According to reports, on March 19, 2012, Sheets, who lived on Cain Road, was attacked in his home and left tied to his kitchen stove by the Burnett and Chaney until he was found by his son, 23, later that day.
Sheets had sustained multiple cuts to his head and had severe swelling to his left eye and other injuries and was transported by LifeNet to National Park Medical Center.
Sheets told investigators that Chaney and Burnett had attacked him. He said they ducttaped his hands, feet and mouth, and Chaney walked up behind him and “whacked him upside the head” with a golf club. He said Chaney continued to hit him with the club while yelling at him and Burnett was “encouraging him” and telling Chaney that Sheets was lying.
Sheets managed to grab one of Chaney’s legs and knock him toward the living room and Chaney then dragged him further into the kitchen, tied him to the stove and hit him several more times until he blacked out.
Warrants were issued for Chaney and Burnett who were arrested after a traffic stop in California and extradited back to Hot Springs. They had been featured in the “Most Wanted” section of The Sentinel-Record while still at large.