Andra Atteberry

Staff Writer n andraa@nwanews.com

Teamwork by village deputies resulted in the capture of three Christmas Eve burglars.

On Christmas Eve evening, Deputy Mitzie Williams, a member of the Bella Vista Division of the Benton County Sheriff's Office, stopped when she was waved over by one of three males at a one-vehicle accident at Trafalgar and Rutland.

While she pulled over to check out the situation, she called Deputy Jason Runions and gave her location. Runions said he was coming over to help Williams with traffic control.

Williams asked who the driver was. One of the three men pointed to Joshua J. Stark, 20, of Rogers.

While standing next to Stark, Williams noticed a strong smell of alcohol. When she asked him if he has had anything to drink, he said he had not.

She got his consent to perform four field sobriety tests, most of which he allegedly failed. When she was ready to test him with a portable breath test, Stark said, "Ma'am, OK, I have to be honest with you. I am going to fail the test." And, he did. The PBT reading was .165, which is more than double the legal limit of .08.

Runions was busy checking the two other males who were with Stark. One of them, Douglas Holley, 40, wanted to drive the vehicle instead of having it towed.

Before Runions allowed Holley to drive the vehicle, however, Holley had to pass a PBT test. Holley asked Runions if that was necessary since he was just driving the car across the street. "I informed him if he were above the legal limit, he would not be allowed to drive the car no matter how far he was going," Runions said.

Deputies reported Holley's reading was .212.

Williams charged Stark with driving while intoxicated and took him to the Benton County Jail. She left Runions behind to inventory the vehicle and help the tow truck operator.

Later, after she arrived at the jail, Williams received a call from Cpl. Rodney Deason who asked her to also charge Stark with theft of property and residential burglary.

While Runions was inventorying the vehicle, the third male, Bruce Ferriel, 32, started causing problems with the tow truck operator. He became combative when Runions tried to place him in custody.

Holley and Ferriel had told deputies they lived in the area, but instead of leaving the scene they stayed around to watch as the vehicle was being searched.

After Runions finally got Ferriel in his patrol car, Bella Vista resident John Perryman came up and told the deputy his house had been robbed. He asked if there were any Christmas gifts in the men's vehicle, along with several other items. The gifts and other items were all in the car, the report stated.

Meanwhile, neighbor Dan Franklin came over and told Runions, "There is a guy in my backyard bent down watching you through the fence."

Runions contacted Deason and told him Holley had just jumped a chainlink fence. About that time, Runions saw Holley and had him lay down and placed him in handcuffs.

Holley was booked for theft of property, residential burglary and fleeing.

When Runions asked Holley about the gifts, Holley said he didn't know anything about them. Ferriel, who was already in Runions' patrol car, said he would tell the officers whatever they wanted to know.

Holley was taken to the Benton County Jail while Runions took Ferriel back to the Bella Vista Division to be interviewed by Sgt. Mark Kugler.

"I never got a good interview," Kugler said. Ferriel was intoxicated and claimed it was the other men who did it.

After Ferriel was interviewed, he was taken to the Benton County Jail on charges of theft of property, residential burglary, public intoxication and warrants from Clarksville and Sherwood.

As to whether Perryman will get back his Christmas presents, Kugler said it will be up to the prosecuting attorney. Kugler hopes the attorney will allow the Sheriff's Office to take photos of the items and return them to Perryman.