Two arrested in connection with commercial burglary

A call to El Dorado police about a suspicious person led to the recovery of a stolen vehicle and the arrests of two Union County residents in connection to a recent commercial burglary in which several items, including vending machines, were reported stolen.

First appearance hearings were held Monday for Cory Gray, 31, of 259 Union 718, and Carly C. Swearingin, 42, of 242 Glenn, who each face charges of commercial burglary, theft of property and possession of instruments of crime. Gray has also been charged with theft of property - auto.

Gray and Swearingin appeared in 35th Judicial District Court, where they were each issued a $15,000 bond. Both were being held in the Union County jail in lieu of bond Monday evening.

Officers responded over the weekend to a report of a burglary at Miller Transporters, Inc., 2811 N. West Ave.

A white female and male wearing camouflage clothing and face masks were captured on surveillance video entering the building at 3 a.m. on Dec. 19 and stealing several items, an employee told police.

The complainant noted that the door through which the suspects entered was unlocked at the time.

Reported missing were two soft drink vending machines, a photo copy machine, flat screen TV and folding table, with a total value of $4,100.

Gray, a former Miller employee, was identified as a suspect, police said.

Upon further review of surveillance footage, police saw that the suspects had arrived on the scene in a white Dodge 3500 pickup truck.

Officers noted that the truck matched the description of a truck that had been reported stolen days earlier from Trotter Nissan, 1910 W. Hillsboro.

On Dec. 17, a woman told police she had gone to Trotter to pick up her husband’s truck, which had been left at the business for repairs.

A Trotter employee said he discovered the truck had been stolen when he attempted to retrieve it for the woman.

Police said the theft was captured on surveillance video, which showed someone driving the truck from the rear parking lot of Trotter at 2:43 a.m. on Dec. 15.

The employee said the suspect(s) likely broke a window, noting that broken glass was on the ground in the area where the truck had been parked.

The complainant later told police that she was notified that the truck had been seen at 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 17 traveling south on South Wyatt Drive/Arkansas 335 and then turning south on Feed Mill Road.

The person who notified her about the sighting also said that one of the windows of the truck was covered by a black trash bag, the woman told officers, who then notified the Union County Sheriff’s Office about the matter.

At 1:20 a.m. on Dec. 20, El Dorado police responded to a report of a suspicious person on North Magnolia Drive.

An officer who was investigating the call reported that as he turned onto West Taylor Street, he spotted a truck that matched the description of the truck that had been taken from Trotter Nissan.

The officer said the truck was parked behind a residence in the 1100 block of North Magnolia Drive, noting that the license plate number did not match records for the truck but it matched the LPN for a vehicle that belonged to Gray.

Police said they spoke to a woman at the North Magnolia residence who said Gray and Swearingin were inside and had arrived in the pickup truck.

Officers said they called the pair outside and took them into custody.

Swearingin told officers that Gray previously worked at Trotter Nissan and had come home in the pickup.

She also admitted that she and Gray had committed the burglary at Miller Transports.

A search of the pickup and Gray’s pockets yielded the keys to the pickup truck; $31 cash in U.S. $1 bills and a $5 Canadian bill, which were believed to have been taken from the vending machines; a camouflage jacket belonging to Swearengin; and two glass pipes, which are commonly used to consume narcotics, police said.

Upcoming Events