DURANT — A deferred sentence was handed down for a man accused of tearing up the Caddo cemetery last year.

Colten Chase Armstrong, 19, Durant, was charged in November with injury to a cemetery after authorities said he went on a vandalism rampage at Caddo’s Gethsemane Cemetery, toppling dozens of gravestones and causing thousands of dollars in damage.

On Tuesday, he was given a five-year deferred sentence, due to his completion of the Regimented Inmate Discipline program, a “boot camp” for young offenders.

Authorities said approximately 30 gravestones, many of them more than 100 years old, were damaged, and the loss was estimated in excess of $50,000. Armstrong was arrested a couple of days later by Caddo Police and he confessed to the crime. A juvenile was also apprehended.

According to court papers, Armstrong told a department of corrections case manager that he was with a friend at the cemetery and they were drinking beer when they decided to steal things from the cemetery.

Armstrong told the case manager that they “ran over stuff” when they left.

As part of his sentence, Armstrong is required to pay restitution to the Caddo cemetery, pay a $300 fine and perform 240 hours of community service. If he successfully completes his deferred sentence, the case will not be considered a conviction.

In other court cases, Michael Bryan Yates, 46, Whitesboro, Texas, was charged Tuesday with attempted first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary and attempting to elude police.

Yates was arrested Monday after deputies responded to a burglary-in-progress call in the 300 block of Allison Road. An affidavit by Deputy Chad Harp states that the suspect vehicle was a gray or silver older model sport utility vehicle.

Authorities located the vehicle traveling on Treaty Road. The driver entered Highway 69/75 and a chase began where Calera Assistant Police Chief T.J. White set up a roadblock. As the vehicle approached, White, who drew his service pistol ordered him to stop, according to the report. Harp assisted White in placing the suspect, later identified as Yates, on the ground and arresting him.

Harp searched the vehicle and found numerous tools, pornographic magazines, a pair of “thong” panties and a pair of binoculars, the affidavit states.

Yates was taken to jail and Harp went to talk to the victims on Allison Road. Larina Golden said the back door to her home and been pried open, but nothing appeared to be out of place. The occupant of the other home, Jennifer Carter, told Harp she was exercising when she heard a noise at the front of the home. She said that she looked out a window and saw a gray and silver Suburban backed up to a garage.

The affidavit states that she saw a man attempting to open a living-room window with a crowbar. Carter told Harp that she went to the window, opened the blinds, and yelled, “What do you think you are doing.”

The suspect then ran to his Suburban and drove away, according to the affidavit. Yates, upon questioning, declined to talk.

Durant Police have also been busy investigating unrelated burglaries and thefts. On Tuesday, Mary Kimball told Patrolman Brandon Laxton that two video surveillance cameras were stolen from outside her residence in the 900 block of Briarwood Place.

Laxton investigated a burglary Saturday in the 400 block of West Georgia Street. According to the report, Charles Ritter said someone broke the padlock off the front door and stole a bottle of prescription pills, a veterans assistance card and an air pistol.

Also on that day, Aureliano Cuellar told Laxton that his residence in the 500 block of West Georgia Street had been burglarized. The victim said that seven gold necklaces, a gold bracelet and cash were stolen. Entry was believed to have been made through the side door that is not very secure.

Laxton investigated another burglary Friday in the 1400 block of West Mulberry Street. A computer and a .270-caliber rifle were stolen from Brandon Stephens’ residence.

Kayla Bates told Patrolman Timothy McEachern on Monday that a window air conditioner, cosmetic items and a guitar amplifier were stolen from her residence in the 900 block of North Third Avenue.

A juvenile was taken into custody Monday after he was observed wearing a pair of tennis shoes he had stolen out of Richard Druby’s vehicle in the 300 block of West Pine Street, according to police.

Druby told Master Police Officer John Walker that a pair of white tennis shoes, compact discs, a check book and pocket knife were stolen out of his vehicle.

That evening, Patrolman Laxton went to the home after Druby called police and said he had seen a young white male wearing his shoes. Laxton found the suspect, according to the report, and asked him to remove the shoes. The juvenile said he bought the shoes from a store in Sherman. Sgt. Brock Jones arrived and said that he owned a pair of shoes just like them and the shoe laces in them were not the ones that came with the shoes.

Jones went to talk to the victim and asked if he could describe something about the shoes that would prove they were his. The victim said the shoes laces that came with them had red tips and the ones that he replaced them with did not, according to the report. Jones said that the identical shoes owned by himself do have shoe laces with red tips, and based upon that, police determined that the shoes did belong to Druby.

The juvenile suspect was a runaway, according to police, and he was released to a foster parent in Calera. The compact discs were recovered at a nearby residence.