TEXARKANA, Texas -- A man has been arrested after allegedly stealing a backpack full of ammo from Academy Sports.

Craig Smith, 48, was arrested Sept. 2, according to the Texarkana Texas Police Department.

He is being held in the Bi-State jail with bail set at $18,000.

As he was responding to the theft call from Academy, Officer Clint Akin was told that the suspect had left walking east and that a store employee was following him from a distance. He saw a man with a backpack walking across the parking lot of a nearby car lot and stopped him.

Akin recognized Smith as the same person in photos sent out to officers by Detective Jennifer Billingsley about another theft case that she was working from Academy just a few days earlier.

The suspect in that case had stolen several boxes of ammunition by hiding them inside his backpack and walking out the door, according to TTPD.

When Akin tried to place Smith under arrest, he immediately tried to pull away several times, according to TTPD. However, Akin had a firm grip on Smith's arm and was able to force him to the ground and get him handcuffed pretty quickly. He found the stolen ammo inside the backpack, along with some pre-packaged meals and a Leatherman multi-tool -- all with markings indicating that they came from Academy, according to TTPD.

In addition to the theft and resisting arrest charges for this incident, it was discovered that Smith also had two felony probation violation warrants for previous theft and credit card abuse convictions. Based upon this arrest, Billingsley now also had an identification of her suspect on the previous theft and was able to get an arrest warrant for Smith in that case too.

Print Headline: Man arrested for allegedly stealing ammo from Academy, resisting arrest

Copyright © 2022, Texarkana Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Texarkana Gazette, Inc.