Sulphur Springs man arrested on charges of burglary at VFW

A 37-year-old Sulphur Springs man was arrested for the second time in two weeks, first for theft and then on charges of burglary of a building, a state jail felony, when he attempted to break into the Veterans of Foreign Wars building on Tuesday.

Police received a report of “two or three people trying to pull open door to VFW” according to 911 call logs, and upon arrival at the VFW building, a gate leading to the back of the property, which was not open to the public at that time, was found pried open according to arrest reports.

Derrick Wayne Smith was found lying on the ground in the area near the building, arrest reports read, and he was allegedly in possession of several bank bags that had been previously located in the VFW office. He was arrested at 3:18 a.m. and transported to Hopkins County jail.

According to arrest reports, the manager accessed video surveillance and confirmed that there were two involved persons. At the time of the arrest report, only one, Smith, has been arrested, the report said.

Police incident reports account for $500 worth of damage done to the VFW doors. 

Smith’s previous arrest on July 9, according to reports, was for theft at a South League Street business. 

Smith allegedly passed all points of sale without paying for multiple items from the business, the report said. 

Police located Smith in a nearby apartment and took him into custody without incident, the report said. 

Smith was released the same day he was booked into HCSO, July 9, according to Sheriff’s records. Exactly seven days later, he was re-arrested for his latest offense at the VFW. 

Prior to the two recent arrests, Smith has 41 charges dating back to 2000 as well as several aliases, according to Sheriff’s records. 

-Todd Kleiboer, newsroom assistant, contributed to this report