A Hot Springs woman and a Las Vegas man have been arrested for multiple offenses related to a vehicle breaking and entering in Benton through a multiagency collaborative effort. At approximately 7:10 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 23, an officer working uniformed off-duty security at Tinseltown movie theater took a report of vehicle broken into in the parking lot.
The victims reported that someone had destroyed the lock mechanism on the driver’s door and then broke out the window of the rear passenger’s side door. The victims said a purse was stolen and while in the process of cancelling credit cards contained in it, they discovered the cards had already been used fraudulently at multiple locations in Little Rock including a Holiday Inn.
This information was passed on to patrol officers, who immediately coordinated with Little Rock Police and responded to the hotel in attempt to locate a suspect. The officer working security at the theater was able to secure video of the theft from the security cameras of the nearby Benton Event Center and pass on a suspect vehicle description to other officers.
As a result of the joint investigative efforts by the Benton and Little Rock Police Departments, with assistance from the Arkansas Highway Police and Arkansas State Police 39-year-old Robert Swanson-Monge of Las Vegas, Nev. And 35-year-old Amanda Williams of Hot Springs were taken into custody at the Holiday Inn. Both were in possession of property stolen out of the vehicle at the theater at the time of their arrest.
Swanson-Monge and Williams each face charges of Theft by Receiving and Fraudulent Use of a Credit Card. Both were transported to the Pulaski County Jail. Swanson-Monge will be transferred to Benton Police custody upon his release from Pulaski County Jail, and he will subsequently be charged with Criminal Use of Another Person’s Property to Facilitate a Crime, Breaking or Entering, Criminal Mischief, three counts of Theft of Property (felony) and one count of Theft of Property (misdemeanor).
As a result of inter-agency cooperation in this investigation, all stolen property was returned to the victims within hours of the theft.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the Benton Police Department at 501-778-1171 or 501-315-TIPS. Individuals also may send us anonymous information to CRIMES (274637) with the keyword BNPD in the body of the text or go to www.crimereports.com to leave a tip. A crime tip can also be submitted via the official Benton Police Department app found on ITunes and Google Play.
Any suspects listed are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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