Photo: Thomas Harvey
A man who has a long string of crimes on his record returned to Baxter County Circuit Court Monday, where he pled guilty to his newest charges and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Sixty-four-year-old Thomas Harvey of rural Mountain Home has been in and out of court, jail and prison and on probation or parole since 1989.
Harvey’s latest arrest came in early January, when he was picked up on felony charges of maintaining a drug premise and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He also faces a misdemeanor charge of hindering apprehension.
The January arrest was the culmination of several incidents that began Nov. 3 last year.
Photos: 11 people are now facing murder trials in Baxter County Circuit Court. Pictured are: (top row, from left) Ryan James Lindsey; Allison Cunningham, Skyler Brazil, Ashley Hendricks, James Tyler Davis; Jeffery Shepherd, (bottom row) Savannah Wren, Baxter Stowers, Amber Runau, Jonathan Mauldin and Robert Dean Penny.
There will be no jury trials in Arkansas until May 1, according to a ruling issued Friday by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The action to extend the prohibition of jury trials was taken due “to a continued high level of COVID-19 positive tests and hospitalizations,” the court’s order noted.
Through the continuing course of the pandemic, the state’s highest court has scheduled various times for jury trials to resume but pushed the dates back because infection and hospitalization numbers continued to track upward.
Photo: Thomas Bert Wheeler
Thomas Bert Wheeler of Mountain Home was sentenced to five years in prison on drug charges during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday.
An Arkansas State Police trooper stopped the 58-year-old Wheeler in late July last year and methamphetamine and marijuana were both found in the SUV Wheeler was driving.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the trooper’s attention was initially drawn to the vehicle when trash came flying out the window.
In addition to the illegal drugs, Wheeler admitted there was an open whiskey bottle in the back seat.
Smoking pipes used to ingest methamphetamine and marijuana were also located inside the vehicle.
Photo: Embry Parks (from left), Christopher Kozik and Marguerita Jackson Three people arrested after police responded to a loud, alcohol-fueled argument at a
Photo: Courtney Ramsey
A woman arrested on drug charges after she and a male companion were found in a truck parked in a non-working carwash stall in Mountain Home appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Twenty-eight-year-old Courtney Ramsey, who lists an address in Forrest City, entered a guilty plea to the charges against her and was sentenced to four years probation.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a Mountain Home police officer was on routine patrol about 11 p.m. on Nov. 3 last year, when he reported seeing a dark-colored truck with its lights out backed into an inoperable carwash stall at Ninth and College streets.