Hollis Blane Sartin, 40, of Pickton was sentenced to six months State Jail time for the unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and when he finishes that sentence he will go to the Substance Abuse Treatment Center (SAFP), a section of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, according to District Attorney Will Ramsay. Ramsay said that when Sartin completes all of that, he will then be on probation for 10 years and should he fail to keep the terms of probation, he is looking at two to twenty (20) years in prison. Sartin was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution to the City of Sulphur Springs. Both the SAFP sentence and the probation were bestowed for terroristic threat charges.
Hollis Blane Sartin
His journey to conviction began around 10 p.m. Friday night, January 24 of this year when Sartin parked the vehicle he was driving, taken from a Hope, Arkansas auto dealer earlier that day, and entered Walmart in Sulphur Springs carrying what was thought to be a handgun. The handgun turned out to be a BB pistol that he openly placed in his hoodie but law enforcement was called and the store was evacuated when a customer reported the incident. He had eluded arrest Friday night but was arrested Saturday morning. Sulphur Springs Police Chief told KSST news that Sartin had no intent to rob Walmart or to do harm. He was simply trying to disassociate himself from the vehicle.
On Wednesday, January 28, Sartin was charged with terroristic threat related to the Walmart incident and for theft of a motor vehicle as well as unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. He was indicted by a Hopkins County Grand Jury in March of this year.
See previous stories here and here.
