Homeless bike thief, sex offender, who destroyed barn sentenced
A homeless man previously given a suspended sentence for destroying a hay barn on Broadway Street in 2017 was sentenced to six years in prison Monday after pleading guilty to stealing a bicycle last year and failing to register as a sex offender.
Lane Anthony Brown, 24, who has remained in custody since his last arrest on Sept. 18, 2019, pleaded guilty in Garland County Circuit Court to felony charges of theft of property over $1,000 and failure to comply with sex offender registration and reporting requirements and was sentenced
to six years on each count, to run concurrently with each other and with a six-year sentence for the revocation of his probation from the suspended sentence.
According to the probable cause affidavit on the sex offender charge, Brown, an unassessed registered sex offender, came to the Hot Springs Police Department on Aug. 23, 2019, to verify his necessary information to be in compliance with registration and reporting requirements.
He completed his verification paperwork and listed his address as a recovery house at 1724 Hobson Ave.
When Brown was arrested on Sept. 18, along with two other suspects, for stealing a bicycle valued at over $3,000 from outside a local restaurant, he told the arresting officers he was homeless and had stolen the bicycle with the intent to sell it for money for a hotel room.
The affidavit notes Brown failed to update his address change within five days as required by the law. On Nov. 1, Detective Brian Branstetter spoke to the coordinator at the recovery house on Hobson and learned Lane had reportedly violated house rules and was made to move in August.
Brown had pleaded not guilty to the theft charge involving the bicycle on Sept. 20 in district court and the case was later bound over to Garland County Circuit Court where he was set to stand trial on Oct. 21, 2020, but opted to plead guilty.
Brown had previously pleaded guilty on May 9, 2019, to first-degree criminal mischief, amended from an original charge of arson, for destroying a large storage barn at 439 Broadway St., belonging to Williams Brothers Feed Store, which contained 4,000 bales of hay and equipment, with damages estimated between $350,000 and $400,000.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with the entire sentence suspended, and also sentenced to one year in jail for a misdemeanor count of criminal mischief. He was given credit for time served since his arrest the day of the fire on Nov. 27, 2017, so he was released that same day.
The guilty plea followed an aborted trial in circuit court after a question came up during cross-examination of Brown about his conviction in Texas on a sexual abuse charge that Judge John Homer Wright had previously ruled as inadmissible.
A 14-year-old boy arrested along with Brown in connection with the fire had testified he was the one who actually started the fire, but said Brown “put him up to it and had given him the lighter” used to ignite the fire, Terri Harris, Brown’s attorney, told The Sentinel-Record after his sentencing.
Harris said the juvenile suspect, who was charged with the same counts as Brown, had previously pleaded guilty to all the charges in Garland County Juvenile Court and was sentenced to probation, active monitoring, counseling and other rehabilitation measures “to try to help him.”