Man pleads guilty to liquor store burglary
A local man arrested last summer after he was found intoxicated in the woods behind a liquor store with alcohol he stole from the store pleaded guilty Monday to felony and misdemeanor charges.
Brice Cory Noel, 37, who was set to stand trial March 21, pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to a felony count of commercial burglary and was sentenced to five years’ probation, and misdemeanor counts of first-degree criminal mischief and theft of property less than $1,000, and was sentenced to one year of probation on each count, all to run concurrently.
Noel, who had no prior criminal history, was also fined
$1,000, ordered to pay $420 in court costs and sentenced to 120 days in jail with credit for time served since his arrest.
According to the affidavit, on May 3, 2017, shortly before 11:30 p.m., Hot Springs police Officer Zachary Brown responded to an alarm at Spa Town Wine and Spirits, 1540 Malvern Ave., and upon arrival noted the front glass of the business had been shattered.
It was unknown if any merchandise had been removed, so Brown contacted store employees and remained on the scene.
About 20 minutes later, while still in the parking lot, Brown was flagged down by employees of the nearby Walmart Neighborhood Market, 1544 Malvern, who told him they had seen a white male in the woods behind Spa Town who was “yelling incoherently.”
Officers then made contact with Noel, who was lying in a brier patch in the woods just behind Spa Town. Near where Noel was lying, officers found two 1.75 liter bottles of whiskey. One was unopened, but the other was about a quarter empty. They noted Noel was incoherent with “extremely slurred speech.”
Noel was initially arrested for public intoxication, but when questioned about where he got the whiskey, he said, “I stole them from that liquor store.” He said he found a large rock behind the business and used it to break the glass. Damages to the window were estimated at $500 and the whiskey was valued at $26.