Dateline: January 10, 2002

Sheriff's office clears several local cases   

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

The Donley County Sheriff’s Department wrapped up the old year and started the new one with several significant arrests recently.

According to Sheriff Butch Blackburn, officers exercised a search warrant on the Clarendon home of Shannon Thomas on January 2 at 4:45 a.m. and arrested him. Thomas was charged with two counts of possession of methamphetamines, sexual assault, sexual performance by a child, and possession and/or promotion of child pornography.

Thomas was arraigned by County Judge Jack Hall on January 2 and was released January 4 on $90,000 bond.

Also arrested was Tommy Thompson, who was charged with possession of marijuana.

As a result of the search at Thomas’ house, Blackburn said more than 100 items were logged into evidence, including several items that had been stolen in Donley County over the last six months.

Among the items found by officers were a printer and computer scanner taken from the Saints’ Roost Museum, a 1999 Polaris 4-wheeler, and a Sea-Doo personal watercraft.

“This was part of an ongoing investigation over the last three months,” said Blackburn. “We’ve cleared up four church burglaries, the museum burglary, and the burglary of eight vehicles.”

The sheriff said his department arrested Stephen Randall and Billy Aaron Curry on November 27, 2002, in connection with the museum break-in and burglaries at the Assembly of God, Methodist, Nazarene, and Presbyterian churches. Mac Dunham was arrested on November 20, 2001, on charges related to the vehicle burglaries.

All three men are now out on bond, and Sheriff Blackburn said Monday that Dunham is now wanted on other charges as well.

The sheriff says he expects several indictments to result from these and other cases and says the arrests should help deter burglaries in Clarendon for a while.

“We had a lot of luck at the end of 2001, and I want to commend the officers for their hard work,” he said. “This also could not have been done without a good working relationship with District Attorney Stuart Messer and County Attorney [pro tem] Kaye Messer and being able to call them at 3 a.m. for warrants.

Officers participating in the arrests were Sheriff Blackburn, Deputies Randy Bond, Bruce Burrell, Joe Stewart, Reserve Deputy Mike Spier, and Texas Ranger Gary Henderson.