Crawford County Courthouse Vandalized, Police Say
Last updated Tuesday, November 11, 2008 11:18 PM CST in News
By Rusty Garrett
Southwest Times Record
Police believe a man apparently retaliating for a prison sentence he received last week vandalized the Crawford County Courthouse on Monday night.
Van Buren Police Lt. Brent Grill said a county employee called police shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday when he discovered the courthouse had been broken into.
The building was closed for the Veterans Day holiday.
Grill said officers found the building heavily damaged, with virtually every office in the building broken into, and interior glass windows and doors broken out all over the building.
Grill said offices were ransacked, with items overturned and equipment and furniture damaged.
He said nothing appeared to have been taken.
Most of the damage, Grill said, appeared to have occurred in the circuit courtroom on the building’s second floor. Video equipment used for court arraignments was destroyed and glass tabletops were shattered.
In the office of the judge’s secretary, furniture and office equipment was turned over and damaged.
Grill said investigators also found blood in different places in the building, apparently the result of a cut the intruder received from broken glass.
In further investigation, police found an alarm had been triggered at the office of the County Prosecuting Attorney, about a half block from the courthouse, late Monday night. Grill said police examined tape from a surveillance camera and saw a man they identified as Anthony Duane Fisher at the building.
Fisher’s image was also captured on surveillance cameras in the courtroom, Grill said.
Fisher, 33, appeared before Judge Gary Cottrell last week and was sentenced to five years in the Arkansas Department of Correction on a burglary charge. Grill said he was free on a reporting bond, awaiting space in prison.
Grill said police also learned that Fisher had been at an apartment complex near the courthouse Monday, shortly before the building was entered.
Van Buren Police and Crawford County Sheriff’s Department deputies were looking for Fisher on Tuesday. Grill said he is believed to be driving a green 1995 Honda Accord.
Meanwhile, county officials were at the courthouse Tuesday to begin cleaning up and assessing damage.
County Judge John Hall said the building was unsafe in its present condition and ordered the courthouse closed to the public today, with reopening scheduled at 8 a.m. Thursday. He said all county employees would report to work today as usual.
Circuit Court cases scheduled today have been rescheduled for Nov. 19.
Hall said Tuesday afternoon the vandalism highlights the need for additional security on the courthouse grounds. He said a group was formed several months ago with the goal of improving courthouse security.
Hall said he would bring a proposal to the Sebastian County Quorum Court for additional security measures.
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