Police Beat (12-16-09)

AAmong reports recently released by the Conway Police Department:

1. Air conditioner/air conditioner component theft at 1000 block of Neal Street and 400 block of Shannon Circle. At some point between 8 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday, a thief or thieves broke into a Mathis Heating and Air warehouse on Neal Street and stole copper wire from the inner workings of 10 air conditioner units and 10 rolls of additional copper wiring, totalling about $3,000 worth of the metal. At some point between Dec. 7 and Saturday morning, a few blocks north of this warehouse at Shannon Circle, a thief or thieves stole nine air conditioners from nine unoccupied duplex units belonging to ERA-Henley Real Estate. Property managers also reported that two other air conditioners had been stolen earlier this year and last year, but had not been reported at the time.

2. Third-degree battery, motor vehicle theft at 1600 block of Middle Road. Officers responding to reports of a disturbance at a residence were told that a man in his early 20s, who had been told to leave earlier, had climbed through a bedroom window, hit a woman in the face, taken the keys to her vehicle from her pocket and left in this vehicle. The vehicle is described as a beige 1995 Toyota Camry with no front door handles, duct tape over the left tail light and chrome wheels.

3. Motor vehicle theft at 2000 block of Rich Smith Lane. At some point between Dec. 9 and Friday morning someone stole a Kubota L35 tractor equipped with a backhoe and front-end loader. The machine belongs to a Fort Smith landscaping company.

4. Lottery ticket theft at 350 East Oak St. (Shell fuel station/convenience store). Management reported on Friday afternoon that a man had taken two lottery tickets while the clerk was preoccupied with the store’s cooler. The theft was captured on video and the suspect identified and located by an officer who wrote in the report that the man had confessed, though the report does not indicate if he had yet been arrested. An employee of the store said that the man had come back later and cashed one of the “Three Times Lucky” tickets for $1.

5. Motor vehicle theft at 1500 block of Davis Street. Victim reported that at some point between 8 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. Monday, someone stole a blue 1973 Pontiac Catalina described by its owner as a “work in progress.”

6. Motor vehicle theft at 908 East Oak Street (Smith Ford). Victim reported that at some point between 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Friday, someone stole a pearlescent white 2004 Lincoln Navigator with painted “ghost flames” which are distinct only in certain light conditions.

7. Commercial burglary at 3501 College Ave. (St. Andrew’s Place Nursing Home). Workers reported that at some point between 4:30 p.m. on Friday and 7:30 a.m. on Saturday someone kicked in the door of a storage building and stole a rented Coleman Powermate generator, which is listed in the report as being valued at more than $1,800.

8. Theft of property at 2125 Harkrider St. (Puff’s Warehouse store). Victim reported that a thief or thieves stole a purse that she had placed on the floor while she was preoccupied with tending to her child.

9. Possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver at Highway 89 North between Mayflower and Conway. A Conway investigator was dispatched to assist Mayflower Police after an officer there located about four ounces of suspected marijuana in a vehicle driven by a man identified in the report as 38-year-old Michael Pennington of 8609 West 33rd St., Little Rock. 

10. Residential burglary at 10 block of Meadow Vista Lane. Victim reported that at some point between about 7:50 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday a thief or thieves kicked open the front door of a residence and stole more than $1,000 worth of jewelry, including a 1978/1979 UALR class ring and a three-drawer jewelry box with women’s jewelry.

11. Theft of property at 4550 Old Morrilton Highway (Conway Animal Welfare Unit). Animal welfare workers noticed on Thursday afternoon that a teen girl seemed to be walking out of the building with a mixed-breed spaniel puppy tucked inside her jacket. Officers were able to develop an idea of where the girl may have been going, and an officer and a detective were waiting for them at the 200 block of South Ash Street. The officer approached the vehicle and told a passenger identified in the report as 23-year-old Jason McKnight of 1180 Neal St., Conway, why he was there. “He pushed the puppy up into my face and kept repeating ‘take the dog, take the dog; I don’t want it anymore, you can have it back,” according to the officer’s report. McKnight was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance after the officer found about three grams of suspected marijuana in his pocket. The girl was arrested and cited for theft of property, and released to an adult. The girl told the detective that she had been compelled to steal the dog because she had recently lost custody of her infant, according to the detective’s report.

(Those with information pertaining to these reports or any unsolved crime are urged to contact the Conway Police Department at 450-6120. Staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached at 505-1238.)