SECOND SUSPECT CAUGHT IN STOLEN JEEP INCIDENT

By Ray King/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

A second Pine Bluff man linked to the theft of a vehicle from an auto dealership last week will have to post a $5,000 bond to be released from the county detention center while prosecutors prepare felony theft charges against him.

Adrian Maxwell, 23, was identified by employees of Welch Motor Co. as the man who drove a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee off the lot June 22.

Reading from an affidavit from Detective Mike Sweeney during a court hearing Monday, Deputy Prosecutor Nicole Pugh said employees at the dealership reported that Maxwell had been to the business earlier in the day and asked about the vehicle, and was given the keys by a salesman to start the engine.

Pugh said Maxwell then left the lot in a black Ford Mustang with another person, later identified as Joe Stewart, 23, and after he left, the salesman realized that Maxwell had taken one of the two keys to the Jeep with him.

The Jeep was reported missing a short time later, and police began a search for it, as well as for the Mustang.

Sweeney reported that Sgt. Greg Holland saw the Jeep on Interstate 530 at exit 39, and when he attempted to stop it, Maxwell ran off the roadway into the grass median, then jumped out of the vehicle and ran down the embankment.

The Mustang, driven by Stewart, was located later, and when police checked the vehicle identification number on the dashboard, found out that it had been altered, and a second vehicle identification number on the door had been painted over.

Sweeney reported that officers were finally able to locate the actual vehicle identification number and learned that the car had been reported stolen from a dealership in Hot Springs on June 8.

Stewart appeared in court last week and Circuit Judge Berlin Jones set a $5,000 bond for him after ruling prosecutors had probable cause to file theft by receiving charges.

On Monday, Pugh said Maxwell had no prior convictions.