Court info: Man tells deputy he stole car from Southside garage under instruction from God

Authorities say a Batesville man told them he was on a “mission from God” after a vehicle he was driving ended up being discovered as stolen.

Court records report on July 9, an Arkansas State Trooper performed a traffic stop on a man identified as Gary Wayne Garris Jr., 40, of Batesville, who was driving a 2013 Chevrolet Spark.

During the stop, the trooper discovered Garris had a suspended driver’s license and had the vehicle towed from the stop to a Batesville garage with Garris riding with the wrecker, the arrest affidavit said. 

While at the Batesville garage, the affidavit noted Garris called the insurance agent listed on the insurance paperwork and told the agent “…that he should call the owner of the 2013 Chevrolet Spark” and tell them to come to the Batesville garage “because the car has been impounded.”

After further investigation from the Independence County Sheriff’s Department, an employee at a Southside garage that had been servicing the Spark for the vehicle’s owner reported to authorities he observed video footage taken from that garage’s lot around 1:30 a.m. on July 8 that showed a man enter the vehicle in question and drive it away, the affidavit said. 

The Southside garage employee then traveled to the Batesville garage and allegedly identified Garris to authorities as the same man in the video, according to the court records. 

The affidavit also noted that when authorities read Garris his Miranda rights and asked him about the incident, Garris said that he was “…on a mission from God, and that God had instructed him to steal the car.”

The affidavit said the vehicle was unlocked and the keys were under the mat for the Spark’s owner to pick up at the Southside garage at a later time.

Garris (pictured below in his booking image) is facing a felony count of theft by receiving. His bond was set at $15,000.

Image via Independence County Sheriff’s Department