Dillard Faces More Charges in Flare Gun Case

A man recently charged with aggravated arson for firing a flare gun into a home now faces more charges.
In the latest offenses, 20 year old Daniel Lewis Dillard of Lee Braswell Road, Smithville is charged with reckless endangerment and theft of property under $1,000. His bond on these charges is $10,000 and he will make a court appearance on January 4th.
As reported previously on WJLE, Dillard was charged in the first case with aggravated arson after he participated in firing a flare gun into a home on Lee Braswell Road December 4 while a woman and a minor were inside. There apparently were no injuries.
According to Sheriff Patrick Ray, a further investigation revealed that Dillard assisted in the theft of the flare gun (valued at $47) from the Smithville Walmart store and took part in firing the gun into another home on Short Mountain Highway (prior to the December 4th incident), placing the victim (woman) in imminent danger of serious bodily injury.
In the first case, Dillard is under a bond of more than one million dollars for the Class A offense of aggravated arson. He was also charged with resisting stop, frisk, halt, or search. Dillard was already on probation for a separate offense at the time of the incident.
A woman caught driving drunk near the Sheriff’s Office has been arrested for DUI and a passenger of her vehicle is facing criminal trespassing and littering charges for tossing bags of tobacco into the cage wash bay behind the jail.
65 year old Betty Sue George of West Main Street, Smithville is under a $2,500 bond for driving under the influence and she is cited for violation of the open container law. She will make a court appearance on January 11.
Sheriff Ray said that on Monday, December 18 a deputy was at the Sheriff’s Office when he spotted a silver colored vehicle stop near the jail. A passenger, 46 year old Richard Brandon Turner of West Main Street, Smithville, got out of the automobile and went behind the jail where he threw two bags containing tobacco into the cage wash bay.
During a traffic stop, the officer spoke with the driver, George. Her speech was slurred and she had an odor of alcohol about her person. George submitted to but performed poorly on field sobriety tasks. An open 24 ounce Bud Lite was found in the center console of the vehicle.
Turner was cited for illegally coming onto the posted property of the jail and for tossing the bags of tobacco onto the premises.