Footprints in snow result in sentencing of man for burglary

Footprints and tire tracks in the snow assisted investigators in bringing charges against 43-year-old Claude Rice and 42-year-old Deanna Blue in a burglary case.

Rice appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Monday and pled guilty to the charges against him and was sentenced to six-years-probation.

In mid-January last year, the sheriff’s office received a report that someone might be trespassing at an address along Tillman Lane.

The person making the report said a white GMC pickup truck with its lights out was parked at the address.

When deputies arrived on scene, they reported seeing what were described as fresh tires tracks in the snow. One of the deputies had been on patrol in the area the day before and did not see any tracks.

The address had been on the sheriff’s “extra patrol” list since mid-November 2013 due to multiple break-ins.

A vehicle was found parked behind the house matching the description that had been provided to the sheriff’s office.

There were two people inside the vehicle – Rice and Blue. She was described as his girlfriend in the probable cause affidavit.

When the deputy made contact, Rice said the couple had parked there to “make out.”

Deputies reported that the tire tracks showed the vehicle had driven completely around the building. There were also fresh footprints “encircling the building.”

In the probable cause affidavit, the deputies reported that the foot tracks showed that someone had walked up to every entrance to the building as well as a storage shed.

Some of the tracks were made by people exiting the building, even though the front door was found to be locked.

The suspected method of entry was soon discovered. A section of the metal siding on the building had been unscrewed and pulled back allowing someone to break through the insulation to gain access to the building’s interior.

The tread on the shoes worn by Rice and Blue “matched the imprints around the building and in the area where entry was made,” according to the investigators.

As deputies were searching the truck occupied by Rice and Blue, they found what was described as a “wax-like substance” smelling like marijuana.

A stun gun was found pushed between the driver’s seat and center console of the truck.

Rice was also found with a counterfeit $100 bill in his wallet while being booked into the Baxter County Detention Center.

Rice was booked on charges of forgery, criminal attempt to commit commercial burglary, criminal mischief, criminal trespass, possession of a controlled substance and paraphernalia to ingest it.

Blue faces charges of commercial burglary, two counts of criminal trespass with prior convictions and criminal mischief.

Blue is scheduled to appear in Court Monday, July 21. A plea offer has been made to Blue by the state.

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