Habitual offender sentenced to 20 years for store burglary
A habitual offender with 17 prior felony convictions was sentenced to 20 years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to breaking into a local convenience store to steal cigarettes earlier this year.
Otis Markham Barnett,
55, who has remained in custody in lieu of $20,000 bond since his arrest March 31, pleaded guilty in Garland
County Circuit Court to one count of commercial burglary and was sentenced to 20 years while an additional misdemeanor count of theft of property under
$1,000 was withdrawn.
Barnett also pleaded guilty to violating his probation from two of his previous convictions and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on each count, to run concurrently with each other and the 20-year sentence.
“The last time Mr. Barnett committed criminal offenses deputies from our office allowed him into drug court to see if rehabilitation instead of prison could solve his behavior,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Kara Petro told The Sentinel-Record on Thursday.
“Mr. Barnett committed a new felony offense while in drug court showing that he was not an appropriate candidate,” she said, noting, “20 years in prison is reflective upon his habitual criminal offender status and his failure to conform to rehabilitation.”
According to the probable cause affidavit, on March 30, a representative of Shell Gas Station, 5704 Albert Pike Road, filed a report with Garland County sheriff’s deputies regarding a burglary and the theft of cigarettes from the business, noting that she found a black right shoe left behind at the scene.
The next day, sheriff’s Investigator Charlie Mowery reviewed security video from the
Shell and identified Barnett as the one seen breaking in. Mowery also noted Barnett could be seen driving a white Buick LeSabre with a gold driver’s door.
Later that morning, Capt.
Joel Ware made a traffic stop on the same vehicle on East Grand for running a stop light. He identified the driver as Barnett and noted in plain view in the vehicle was a black left shoe matching the one left at the crime scene.
Barnett was brought in to the sheriff’s department and questioned and admitted to breaking into the Shell station and stealing cigarettes. He stated he later sold the cigarettes for $3 a pack.
Barnett had pleaded guilty on April 15, 2019, in Garland County Circuit Court to two felony counts of commercial burglary for burglarizing the Shell Station at 3201 Central Ave. and Bailey’s Dairy Bar, 510 Park Ave., on Aug. 19 and Aug. 21, 2018, respectively. He was sentenced to six years’ supervised probation on each count, to run concurrently, fined $400 and ordered to pay $940 in court costs and a total of $1,711 in restitution for damages to the two businesses.
At the time of his arrest on Aug. 22, 2018, Barnett, who had
15 prior felony convictions at that point, had reportedly been out on parole from prison for one month, stemming from his last conviction on March 3,
2015, for the attempted burglary of Falk Supply Co., 223 Third St., on Dec. 20, 2014, for which he was sentenced to six years in prison.