City parks employee steals more than $1K
A Hot Springs Parks and Trails Department employee was arrested Thursday after allegedly stealing over $1,000 from a concession stand in Kimery Park earlier this year.
Jonathan Franklin Patman, 28, who lists a Vaughn Loop address, was taken into custody at around 2:34 p.m. Thursday and charged with a felony count of theft of property over $1,000, punishable
by up to six years in prison.
He was later released on
$2,500 bond and is set to appear July 11 in Garland County District Court.
According to the affidavit, on May 29, an employee of Flossie’s reported that someone had gained entry into the locked concession stand of his business, located at Kimery Park, and used his credit card machine to refund $826.36 to a credit card. The employee said the suspect returned later that same day and conducted two more transactions of $350.35 and
$26 on the same card.
The employee believed the suspect had a key to the stand because there was no damage to the stand, its door or the door’s lock. He was able to provide a full card number for the transactions and provide the name of the bank. A subpoena was requested for the card’s records.
On June 22, Hot Springs police Detective Patrick Langley obtained a record of the card from the bank that identified Patman as the owner and gave his date of birth, address and telephone number. The bank also gave a record of the card’s last 30 days of transactions, which included three transactions on May 29 that aligned with the three listed by the employee.
Further investigation revealed Patman was an employee of the parks department, which would allow him access to the facility.