Man with long list of criminal charges pleads guilty to more

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Beginning in his late teens, a Mountain Home man has been arrested and charged with a long string of crimes, including breaking into businesses, homes, a hunting cabin, an outbuilding and a large number of storage units.

Twenty-seven-year-old Brian Ashley Calvert appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court last Monday, pled guilty to charges in three open criminal cases and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

He is already an inmate at the Ouachita River Unit doing time in an earlier case.

His latest alleged crime actually took place in the Baxter County Detention Center where he was locked up.

He was among a group of people charged with rigging up a “fishing pole” with line made of twisted trash bags.

The line was poked through a hole in the jail wall and an item of contraband was allegedly attached to the line by 21-year-old David Zack Peifer, the brother of the inmate and intended recipient, 22-year-old Hunter “Ty” Peifer.

The prohibited item was then pulled back into the jail.

The plot was exposed and Hunter Peifer, his brother, David Zack Peifer who was alleged to be the person outside the jail attaching items to the “garbage bag fishing line,” and the Peifer brothers’ grandmother, 60-year-old Mary Vickie Ward, have all been charged with participating in the smuggling operation. Calvert was claimed to be the one who “spun” the fishing line from the garbage bags.

Recorded phone calls between Ward and Hunter Peifer as the operation was actually underway were reviewed leading to the arrest of the three family members.

Hunter Peifer is in the Grimes unit of the state prison system on charges unrelated to the plan to smuggle contraband into the Baxter County jail.

David Peifer has been in the Baxter County Detention Center on a new set of drug-related charges.

Calvert was jailed at the time of the smuggling operation after being locked up August 27. He was developed as a suspect in the theft of items valued at slightly more than $34,000 from an automotive repair business located along Highway 5 South.

Items taken from the business included tools and vehicle parts.

During the investigation, Gassville police told Baxter County sheriff’s investigators that a confidential source reported having photographs of merchandise believed to have been taken in the repair shop burglary.

The parts were allegedly being sold by Calvert.

One of the pictures provided by the informant showed a silver Oldsmobile Bravada SUV with the rear door open exposing numerous items piled in the back of the vehicle.

Information was also provided that Calvert’s alleged intention was to return to the auto repair business and “steal the rest of the inventory.”

The owner of the repair business was contacted and alerted that another break-in might be attempted. He took additional security measures, including installing “game cameras” on the property.

The camera installation paid off the very next night when a silver Oldsmobile Bravada pulling a trailer – similar to the one in the picture provided by the informant and tied to Calvert — was shown driving around the garage.

There is no indication in the records as to whether Calvert was in the vehicle or that a second break-in took place.

Calvert’s picture was also taken by security cameras at a location where a lock was cut off a storage building.

Information also came in to investigators that a quantity of stolen property was located at a site along County Road 511. Lawmen went to the address and found Calvert working on a motorcycle in the yard.

According to the sheriff’s office, there were a number of items in plain sight at the address that matched those allegedly taken from the auto repair business. A search warrant was obtained for the property.

When investigators returned to serve the warrant, Calvert was reported to have run into one of the buildings on the property and refused commands to come out.

One of the lawmen entered the structure and removed Calvert.

Investigators also found a number of illegal drugs on the property, including 20.4 grams of a substance field-testing positive as a mix of methamphetamine and fentanyl.

In addition, several hydrocodone pills, syringes, smoking pipes and 19 firearms – some fully loaded — were located by investigators.

Calvert is charged with commercial burglary, possessing illegal drugs, theft of property, possession of firearms by a felon, simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and being a habitual offender.

Calvert was on parole at the time of his latest arrest and under the supervision of the Mountain Home office of Arkansas Community Corrections. Records show his parole was revoked two days after Calvert was taken into custody on his new charges.

The owner of the vehicle repair business came to the site on County Road 511 and identified 46 “unique items” stolen from his shop, and empty boxes that had contained other items that had been taken.

Calvert was also allegedly reported to have been on Facebook trying to sell the stolen items from the garage as well as an all terrain vehicle.

In addition to his prison time, Calvert was ordered to pay about $35,000 in restitution, with the bulk of that amount due to the auto repair shop owner.

Calvert has been charged with a number of crimes through the years. The first of 12 criminal cases that have been opened on him dates back to 2014.

He was reported to be involved in breaking into 22 storage units at two facilities and stealing a number of items in 2019.

Investigators determined a single unit at one of the burglarized storage facilities had not been hit. It was rented by Calvert.

When officers entered the unit, they found property that had been reported stolen.

Calvert was also charged with stealing a number of items from an outbuilding located in Gamaliel.

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