A Rector man has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to charges across five felony cases during an Oct. 12 session of Baxter County Circuit Court. Thirty-eight-year-old David Neal Simmons' sentence includes a judicial transfer to one of the state's Community Correction Centers.
Simmons faced a range of accusations, including charges related to two separate storage unit theft incidents and three cases involving drug-related offenses. In one theft case, court documents show Simmons was charged alongside 36-year-old Greg Anthony Garreans and 44-year-old Lacy Schmerbauch. The group was accused of stealing items from a storage unit on State Highway 5 South. A separate theft charge against Simmons involved him acting alone to steal from a storage unit at another location.
The stolen items from the two cases were valued at nearly $10,000 according to probable cause affidavits. They included a weed trimmer, fishing rods and reels, knives, a wooden ammunition case, computer monitors, a generator, an air compressor, hunting gear, electronic equipment, and 50 containers of freeze-dried meals.
Security tapes obtained during the investigation reportedly captured a blue four-door Jeep pulling a utility trailer at one of the storage complexes. Two individuals were seen loading items onto the trailer. Investigators determined the vehicle belonged to Garreans, who later admitted being present at the facility with Simmons but denied any theft involvement. Authorities confronted Garreans with the security footage and instructed both him and Simmons to report to the sheriff's office, though they had not complied by the time affidavits were issued.
Some of the stolen items were reportedly recovered at a nearby trailer park where Garreans and Schmerbauch lived. While Simmons initially pleaded not guilty to the theft charges, he changed his plea earlier this month. Garreans and Schmerbauch are scheduled for a Nov. 9 pretrial hearing and Nov. 16 jury trials.
Court records show that Simmons and Garreans were arrested again on Sept. 11, 2022, during a traffic stop on State Highway 5 South. Upon arriving at the Baxter County Detention Center, Simmons was found to have a smoking pipe and a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine hidden in his clothing. Additional charges stemming from separate traffic stops led to two more drug-related cases against Simmons.
Simmons has been held at the Baxter County Detention Center since his September 2022 arrest on a bond set at $42,000.