By SARAH CAMPBELL
Leader staff writer
The two women arrested in the the death of 74-year-old Katherine Cleary of Sherwood have been in and out of criminal court for at least a decade.
According to the Arkansas Department of Community Cor-rections, Rhonda Glassburner-Strong, 51, has been on probation since March and was to remain on probation until March 2014 for her latest brush with the law. But her laundry list of run-ins in the court system began in 2001.
Glassburner-Strong’s past convictions include about half a dozen drug offenses (the most recent for cocaine), one felony theft by receiving charge and a few counts of prostitution. Glassburner’s probations have been revoked multiple times. In fact, she was due in court on Sept. 22 for sentencing on a 2009 case involved drug charges and revocation of her probation.
The sentences for crimes committed in close proximity were also concurrent. If they had been consecutive, she would have been behind bars when Cleary went missing this week.
Also, if Glass-burner-Strong had stayed out of trouble, according to Pulaski County Court, she could have had her records sealed because of a plea bargain she agreed to.
Appearing in court around the same time was Sonia Bell, although her record is significantly lighter. Bell was charged with felony theft by receiving in 2001 but the case against her wasn’t prosecuted.
She was later convicted of two felony possession of a controlled substance offenses, one in 2003 and one in 2009. Bell was sentenced to four years, but served two in a community correction center. She has been on parole since November 2010. She was set to be released from parole in December.
Glassburner-Strong and Bell were arrested on Tuesday after detectives followed activity on Cleary’s stolen credit card to the purchase of a flat-screen television at Jacksonville’s Walmart. Store cameras taped the two women using the card.
One of the women told police they had dumped some of the victim’s belongings on Boyd Road. Investigators found Cleary’s body in a ditch there.
She had been missing since 4 a.m. Monday, when police responded to an alarm at her home, 300 Big Indian Road. Cleary and her vehicle were gone and there were not signs of forced entry.
A surveillance camera on a neighbor’s house may have captured the kidnapping, but the police are not releasing any information about that.
The women have been charged with felony theft by receiving and fraudulent use of a credit card and are being held at the Pulaski County Jail.
Police spokesman Josh Adams has said police believe there may be more individuals involved and Cleary may have known someone involved in her kidnapping and murder.
The cause of death for the 5-foot, 90-pound elderly woman has not been determined. The state Crime lab is conducting her autopsy.
Lt. Dan Kerr of the Sherwood Police Department said at least one elderly woman called to request extra patrols in her neighborhood after the incident.
Doris Anderson, who lives down the street from Cleary, said, “I’m still in a daze over it. Everybody in the neighborhood has been on edge…we should not have to sit in our homes with guns in our hands watching television. We are sleeping with guns.”
She also said she even followed an unfamiliar vehicle that was driving in the neighborhood one afternoon this week. The driver was someone looking for a house to buy.
She said that it was typical for neighbors, who treat each other like family, to keep an eye out for one another.
Anderson described her neighbor as a sweet lady who liked to garden.
“We all wish we could see Ms. Cleary in here home again, but that is a wish that will never be fulfilled,” she added.
Anderson said the police have been doing an excellent job investigating the case, but Sherwood needs more officers on the streets to stem the recent influx of crime.
“People are left to defend their own homes and their own lives the best they can. Unfortunately, Miss Cleary was unable to do so.”
