PRAIRIE GROVE -- Prairie Grove police plan to file felony charges against an Oklahoma couple for four vehicle break-ins at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park on three separate days, according to Capt. Jeff O'Brien.
The couple was arrested April 17 by Bella Vista Police Department after being caught stealing a purse from a vehicle at Tanyard Creek in Bella Vista. Vehicle break-ins also had been reported in Bella Vista at Bear Hollow Trailhead and Blowing Springs Park.
Andrew Phillip Ramalho, 39, and Lacie Jo Wiseley, 33, both of Stilwell, Okla., are facing multiple charges by Bella Vista Police. Ramalho was charged with felony breaking or entering and several misdemeanors. Wiseley was charged with accomplice to breaking or entering and other misdemeanors.
After being stopped by Bella Vista police, the couple was found with multiple purses in the vehicle, a ledger with the names of trailheads in multiple counties in Arkansas and Oklahoma and an 18-month-old child. The child was brought to Bella Vista Police Department and taken into custody by the Arkansas Department of Human Services.
The couple was linked to similar incidents in Rogers, Prairie Grove and Siloam Springs.
O'Brien said he went to the Bella Vista Police Department on Friday to see evidence recovered and found items that were taken from three of the vehicles on all three days. The break-ins at Battlefield State Park occurred over a three-week period with all vehicles located in the parking lot near the Borden House. In each case, the vehicle was locked and entry was gained by breaking a window. The suspects broke car windows and grabbed purses.
After recovering the property, O'Brien said he interviewed the female suspect and she "gave him an admission of coming to Prairie Grove." Wiseley told O'Brien that Ramalho used a crowbar to break into the cars.
Items stolen during the Prairie Grove break-ins included a cell phone, gift cards, credit cards, anything that was in the victim's purses. O'Brien said police are still hoping to recover a book of poems written over a 30-year period by one of the victims.
"Basically, I tied them to all four break-ins," O'Brien said.
O'Brien is working with the Washington County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to obtain warrants to arrest the couple on four felony counts of breaking or entering, four counts of criminal mischief and four counts of theft of properties, all misdemeanors. When the warrants are issued, the suspects will be extradited to Washington County Detention Center, O'Brien said.
Ramalho and Wiseley are being held in the Benton County Detention Jail, on $15,000 and $10,000 bond, respectively.
Cassi Lapp with NWA DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE contributed to this report.
General News on 04/26/2017