FAYETTEVILLE -- A man arrested in January after an armed robbery and shooting has been arrested again for burglary after being released from jail March 31 as part of an effort to limit the risk of the covid-19 virus at the Washington County Detention Center.
Seth Sholmire, 21, of 4394 W. Apache Trail in Fayetteville, was arrested Thursday in connection with two instances of commercial burglary. Sholmire was being held Friday in the jail on $200,000 bond.
According to a Fayetteville Police Department report, Sholmire was arrested after officers reviewed surveillance video from the Harps Food Store, 1274 N. Colorado Drive.
According to the report, the video showed a man broke a glass door at the store with a rock and took about $250 worth of cigarettes, rolling papers and cigarillos. The man was seen leaving the store on foot.
Police said the man wore brown and black Nike shoes and had a distinctive tattoo on his left wrist. The man was wearing brown pants, a white shirt, a hoodie jacket and a blue ski mask.
Police say they were able to identify Sholmire using video from a similar burglary in December 2019 in which he wore the same clothes and had the same tattoo visible. In that burglary, at Wanderlust Tattoo, 572 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., the video showed a man taking tattoo equipment valued at about $4,735 from the shop after breaking out a glass window.
When officers went to Sholmire's home on Thursday he was wearing the same clothes as the suspect in the Harps video, including the shoes, brown pants, white shirt, and jacket.
Sholmire had been arrested Jan. 8 and booked into the jail for aggravated robbery and battery. According to a police report, he had been involved in a robbery and shooting at the North Creekside Apartments, 1764 N. Leverett Ave.
In that incident, according to the police report, Sholmire and another man were trying to buy marijuana and Sholmire became angry when the man they were buying the marijuana from didn't have enough to sell him. Sholmire reportedly fired one shot into the air and then shot the man twice. The man who was shot wasn't identified and police said at the time he was hospitalized for treatment. Police said Friday the man is still recovering.
Sholmire was being held in the jail after the January robbery and shooting. Kelly Cantrell, public information officer for the Sheriff's Office, said he was released on a felony citation March 31 for medical reasons. The Sheriff's Office began releasing detainees in March after local, state and federal officials declared emergencies due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Jay Cantrell, chief deputy, said the Sheriff's Office alone didn't make the decision on which detainees were released.
"We draw up a list and the prosecuting attorney and the judges have to approve it," he said. "We might make a recommendation like this guy had a serious enough medical condition that he might need to be considered. It's unfortunate he didn't take advantage of being given the opportunity to be released without having to pay bail. He probably won't get that same chance again."
The jail has a capacity of 710 beds and had a population of more than 800 detainees in February. The Sheriff's Office began releasing detainees held for nonviolent offenses and those who had medical conditions that might make them more susceptible to the virus.
The jail population on Friday was 349 and Cantrell said there have been no positive tests for the covid-19 virus among the detainees or staff.
Sholmire had been set for trial beginning May 11 on the aggravated robbery and battery charges. That court date was postponed until October because circuit courts are closed due to the pandemic except for issues that require immediate action.
NW News on 05/09/2020