Bartlett leads officers on multiple high-speed chases, still on the run

Adam D. Bartlett Jr., 32, originally from the Bakersfield/Caulfield area, is the suspect of two police pursuits and a variety of other suspected crimes over the weekend. He  is still at large, according to Ozark County Sheriff Cass Martin. 

The string of incidents began on Oct. 4 when officers with the West Plains Police Department located a vehicle that had been reported stolen from Rogersville parked at the Snappy Mart in that town. 

WPPD officers entered the business and found Bartlett, a known parole absconder who had failed to comply with parole conditions or check in with his parole officer, inside the store. 

They attempted to arrest him, but Bartlett shoved one of the police officers out of the way and fled, jumping into the stolen vehicle and attempting to back out, slamming into a Missouri Highway Patrol vehicle before exiting the parking lot. 

The incident incited a police pursuit west on Highway 14, where the Howell County Sheriff’s Department took over. 

Bartlett continued on to Caulfield, where four Ozark County Sheriff’s Department officers joined the pursuit. Bartlett crashed the stolen vehicle on Highway 101 and took off on foot. Officers were unable to find or capture Bartlett that night and released information to the public that he was on the run and could be armed and dangerous.

Two days later, on Friday, Oct. 6, the first sign of Bartlett emerged as he visited the Evans Kwik Stop location in Bakersfield and pumped $79.06 into the stolen vehicle and drove off without paying. The clerk called the sheriff’s department to report the theft. 

The trail went cold until mid-day when Ozark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Seth Miller spotted Bartlett in the Mountain Home, Arkansas, Walmart store while he was shopping with his two daughters and another child. Miller, who had arrested Bartlett several times during his career, immediately identified him. Bartlett, who also assumedly recognized Miller, quickly left the store after seeing the officer. Miller safely got the children out of the store and called the Mountain Home Police Department to report the sighting and gave officers a description of Bartlett, the stolen vehicle and pointed officers in Bartlett’s direction of travel. The MHPD, Baxter County [Ark.] Sheriff’s Department and Arkansas State Highway Patrol initiated a second pursuit. When Bartlett entered into Missouri, the Arkansas departments discontinued the pursuit, and the OCSD and MSHP picked up the chase. Bartlett led officers through Ozark County into Taney County where he ditched the stolen vehicle he was driving and stole a red Dodge Ram dually truck with a flatbed. 

Officers have been unable to locate Bartlett. Martin says that he was last spotted heading toward Springfield. Officers say he resides in that area but does have ties to the Bakersfield and Caulfield areas and may return. If anyone knows where Bartlett is or spots him, officers say you should not approach him. Instead call 911 or your local law enforcement to report the sighting.

The manhunt over the weekend is not Bartlett’s first encounter of the sort. He has a history of running from law enforcement including a 2015 manhunt that involved a plane, helicopter and several area law enforcement agencies. 

In that incident, former Ozark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Winston Collins and former Sheriff Darrin Reed attempted to stop a vehicle on County Road 551 in Tecumseh to arrest Bartlett and another man on warrants. A white vehicle with Bartlett in the passenger seat left the residence, and the sheriff attempted to stop it. The vehicle did not stop and instead the driver continued to flee from the officer. Reed told the Times he witnessed Bartlett physically assaulting the driver during the pursuit. “I think the driver was wanting to stop, but (Bartlett) kept beating (the driver) to keep him from stopping,” Reed said shortly after the incident. The vehicle finally stopped at County Roads 555B and 551. Bartlett opened the door and fled on foot into the wooded area,” Reed told the Times after the incident. 

After the co-defendants were taken into custody, police continued to comb the area throughout the day looking for Bartlett, deploying a MSHP fixed-wing airplane and helicopter. They were unable to find Bartlett in the search, but later that day an informant told officers Bartlett had asked neighboring residents to take him to Bakersfield. The officers found Bartlett back at the residence of the co-defendant and apprehended him without incident.

During the manhunt, the Ozark County dispatcher received a bomb threat at Bakersfield School and a report of a vehicle accident within a short period of time. Both reports were false, and the calls were traced back to a single caller. Officers believe the call was made by Bartlett in an attempt to distract law enforcement officers from his capture.

Bartlett pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance and resisting arrest by fleeting and was sentenced to 7 years in prison on the two charges in that case.