Woman given SIS, probation for taking man’s vehicle after dropping him at court
Dawn Flanagan, 41, of Gainesville, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to tampering with a motor vehicle before Circuit Judge Craig Carter during the May 3 session of Ozark County Law Day.
Flanagan was given a suspended imposition of sentence (SIS) and placed on supervised probation for a term of 5 years.
A SIS means that she has not had a prison sentence imposed at sentencing. Instead, the immediate punishment is supervised probation. If she successfully completes probation without too many violations, the charge will not be included on a future criminal record. However, if she violates probation, the judge can change the SIS to a suspended execution of sentence (SES). In that case, the sentence execution is also suspended and the defendant isn’t forced to go to prison, but the charge will remain on his or her criminal record from that point forward. If the defendant continues to violate his or her probation after an SES is issued, the judge can revoke the probation and send the defendant to prison for the rest of the probation term.
Flanagan is also ordered to the following conditions: pay court costs; obey all laws; not possess or consume illegal drugs, alcohol or other intoxicating/mood altering substances; consent to search and seizure of person, home and/or vehicle; be subject to random drug and alcohol testing upon request of any law enforcement officer or court with or without probable cause; not to frequent establishments that has a primary purpose of the sale of alcohol beverages; pay $300 to the county’s law enforcement restitution fund (CLERF) within 90 days and spend 60 days in county jail (may be done in 48 hour increments) if requested by probation officer.
An additional condition of Flanagan’s specific case is that she is to return the vehicle to its rightful owner within 30 days.
Incident
According to the probable cause statement filed in the case prepared by Ozark County Deputy Josh Sherman, Steven Caldwell reportedly spoke with the officer on Nov. 22, 2022, and said his vehicle had been stolen.
Caldwell reportedly said that he’d asked Flanagan to drive him to court recently, as he did not have a driver’s license, and she agreed. Caldwell was arrested shortly after the court appearance and taken to the Ozark County Jail. Flanagan then reportedly drove the vehicle from the court hearing without Caldwell, who was in jail.
Caldwell said that sometime after that point Flanagan took the vehicle’s title, signed it and tried to register it in her name and out of his name. Caldwell told Sherman that he believed the woman still had the title.
“Mr. Steven Caldwell indicated he wants to pursue charges against Dawn Flanagan and/or whoever is found to be in the immediate possession and control of the vehicle if/when located and secured,” Sherman’s report states.
“On December 26, 2022, Ozark County Sheriff’s Department recorded the vehicle information as stolen in the appropriate reporting platforms for law enforcement officials.