A 21-year-old man was arrested Saturday after he and a 13-year-old boy stole two tractors from an Arkansas farm, ran over more than 20 mailboxes, then drove one of the tractors into a creek, authorities said.
Prairie County Sheriff Rick Hickman said Derrick Whittaker and the boy told authorities that they had no real reason for trashing the tractors and no grudge against the vehicles’ owners.
Whittaker faces several charges: two counts of theft of property, two counts of criminal mischief in the first degree, three counts of breaking and entering, endangering the welfare of a minor, criminal mischief in the second degree and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to a Facebook post from the Prairie County sheriff’s office. The minor’s case has been referred to juvenile court, the post said.
Authorities said Whittaker and the 13-year-old first went to the Ronnie Simmons farm at Cain Road and Arkansas 86 in Prairie County on May 28, where they shot “a pistol for fun,” stole a key to a tractor, then left. Around midnight May 30, they again walked to the farm, where they stole a John Deere tractor and got it stuck in mud, according to the Facebook post.
The pair stole a second tractor, which they used to “continually ram the front and side of the John Deere tractor, causing major damage,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook. Authorities said the pair drove away from the farm in the second tractor. While driving the tractor, they broke all its windows and drove over about 25 mailboxes, the agency said. They drove the tractor into Watensaw Creek, where it became “submerged in water” and walked home, authorities said.
Whittaker is being held in the Prairie County jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond, Hickman said. An Aug. 24 court date has been set.
Click here for larger versions
Photos by Prairie County sheriff's office
Photos by Prairie County sheriff's office
