Dateline: May 21, 2009

Childress man pleads on 2008 kidnapping case

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise  

A Childress man was placed on deferred adjudication this week after accepting a plea agreement for charges related to a kidnapping last summer.

John Edward Arbuckle pled guilty to the felony offense of aggravated kidnapping before District Judge Stewart Messer in Clarendon on Monday. He could face 99 years or life in the state penitentiary if he violates the conditions of his ten-year probation.

 Pursuant to the plea agreement with District Attorney Luke Inman, Arbuckle is required to pay a $10,000 fine to Donley County, along with $640 in court costs, among other conditions of probation.

Arbuckle was indicted by a Donley County Grand Jury on November 10, 2008, for the offense of aggravated kidnapping that took place on July 28, 2008.

Arbuckle was one of three people arrested in July 2008 in connection with the kidnapping of a McLean man in Amarillo. The man was bound and put in a van and was later being driven through Clarendon when the suspects stopped at Lowe’s Family Center. There the victim managed to get loose, make his way into the store, and seek help.

Authorities soon located the suspects’ vehicle at a residence on County Road 19 near Lelia Lake. James Michael Brinkley was placed under arrest there. Arbukle was stopped by a Donley County Deputy for a traffic violation the next day and arrested on outstanding warrants.

Brinkley pled guilty on April 16, 2009, to the first degree felony charge of aggravated kidnapping.  Brinkley was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. 

In other district court news, Gonzalo Lopez Cruz pled guilty in Wellington last Monday and was placed on probation for a period of five years for the state jail felony offense of driving while intoxicated with a child passenger.  Cruz was convicted and sentenced to two years in state jail, but the sentence was probated for a period of five years.