Local man allegedly caught breaking into cars arrested
A local man caught by employees of an area business breaking into employees’ cars was arrested by Hot Springs police Wednesday afternoon.
Welford Dylan West, 34, who lists an address of 836 Lakeshore Drive, was taken into custody around 12: 30 p. m. and charged with a felony count of breaking or entering, punishable by up to six years in prison.
West remained in custody Thursday in lieu of $ 2,500 bond and is set to appear Feb. 25 in Garland County District Court.
According to reports, two employees of Triumph Fabrications, 1923 Central Ave., reported they saw an unknown white male in the parking lot at the corner of Central and Winans Street where employees park their vehicles.
The employees noted the suspect was going from car to car in the lot, pulling on door handles. At one point, he approached the passenger door of a silver 2008 Ford Focus owned by a female Triumph employee.
The employees walked over and detained the suspect, later identified as West, until police came and took him into custody.
It was noted the center console in the Focus had been opened and numerous items were seen scattered on the passenger seat of the car. The owner of the car came out and identified the items as having come from inside the console, but noted nothing appeared to be missing.
• A local man who allegedly forged and cashed numerous stolen checks last year was arrested on felony warrants Thursday morning in Arkadelphia.
Stanley Lamar Thornton, 34, who lists an address of 389 Lake Hamilton Drive, Apt. C- 10, was formally charged around 1o a. m. at the Clark County Detention Center, where he was being held on unrelated charges, with 10 counts of second- degree forgery and one count of theft of property more than $ 5,000, all felonies punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Bond on the charges was set at $ 38,500 and he is set to appear Feb. 25 in district court.
According to reports, a local man filed a complaint with the HSPD regarding 10 checks that had been forged from his Arvest Bank account for his business, Window World Inc., between Aug. 2 and Oct. 4, 2013, for a total of $ 10,670.80.
The checks were made payable to Thornton and cashed or deposited at the Arvest Bank branch at 4570 Central Ave.
HSPD detective E. Wacaster reviewed the bank’s security footage of the transactions and matched the suspect to a driver’s license photo of Thornton, confirming it was him.
The victim noted that Thornton was a former employee of a bookkeeping firm hired by the victim to maintain his business records, and Thornton had access to the victim’s checking account information and checks.
Warrants for Thornton’s arrest on the charges were issued on Dec. 10.