Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Gurdon men arrested for role in church thefts

Two Gurdon men were arrested in mid-September and were later charged with theft in connection with seven church burglaries in the area, Clark County Sheriff David Turner said.

William Baughmann, 24, and James C. Fite, 23, of 122 Front St. in Gurdon were taken into custody after a search warrant was served at their home.

Officers from the sheriff's office and Gurdon Police Department found several items that had been reported stolen from churches in Clark, Garland, Hot Spring and Saline counties. Charges could be forthcoming from those counties.

Several of the stolen items had already been sold to pawn shops.

"They pawned stuff from here to Sherwood," Turner said.

The arrests were the result of information obtained by Clark County investigators Bill Ratliff and Jim Pennington, which led them to local pawn shops, Turner said.

Most of the stolen items were recovered. "We recovered everything but a guitar."

More evidence is being processed, Turner said, and the charges against Baughmann and Fite could be amended.

The two reportedly told investigators that they stole property from churches because no one was there and the burglaries wouldn't be discovered for several days.

Bond for Baughmann and Fite was initially set at $20,000 each. Both remained in the Clark County Jail at press time.