Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Hale sentenced to 14 years in jail

An Okolona man was recently sentenced to 14 years in the Arkansas State Penitentiary.

Johnny Lee Hale, Jr. was arrested on November 8, 2001 for burglary.

Hale had allegedly broken into the residence of Adam and Mikki Hastings of Okolona. Several items were taken from the house.

The Hastings reported the burglary, but there wasn't much evidence for the police to go on, according to court records.

The day after the burglary, Hastings notices her dog wasn't in the house. She called the police back and told them to add her dog to the list of items taken.

A family friend noticed the Hastings' dog sitting on the porch of Hale's house. After the friend told Hastings, she called the police to tell them. This gave the police probable cause to search the residence. Not much to the officers surprise, they found the items that had been taken from the Hastings residence.

Hale had prior burglary convictions on his record. He was held at the Clark County jail until he was sentenced in May.

Hale is ordered to successfully complete vocational technical school while at the department of correction.

\