Published: August 07, 2009 12:03 am      

Not guilty plea entered to three-year-old theft

A Kaufman County man has pleaded not guilty to a charge of felony theft, involving the alleged stealing of firearms and a large amount of cash from a Hunt County resident in 2006.

Thomas Lee Potter was brought under a bench warrant from state prison to the 354th District Court for Thursday’s arraignment. Judge Richard A. Beacom appointed an attorney for Potter and scheduled a tentative trial date for Oct. 12.

Potter, 44, of Terrell, was indicted by the Hunt County grand jury in December 2007 on one count of theft of property of the value of between $20,000 and $100,000. Potter was alleged to have stolen a pickup truck, a rifle, pistol and $10,000 cash on July 24, 2006, in a case investigated by the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office.

The indictment against Potter lists two previous convictions for aggravated assault against a peace officer and two convictions for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, all from Dallas County in 1989. Potter also has previous felony convictions listed on the indictment for forgery and rape of a child.

Potter was incarcerated in the Allred Unit of the Texas Department of Corrections-Institutional Division in Iowa Park when he was ordered returned to Hunt County to face prosecution on the theft indictment.