The Oklahoma Violent Crime Offender Registry provides public information on only registered violent offenders. and provides information to the public and law enforcement in the interest of public safety. It is intended to alert the public to known offenders and provide resources to better protect you, your families, and your community. The state intends the information within this site and various links to other sites to help the public to become better informed and better educated of potential dangers.
Today in Fort Smith is, and always has been, an advocate for the public right to know and the public's safety when it comes to registered sex offenders and violent offenders who have been released from prison.
The story, like those we had run in the past, adheres to those principles.
(Editor's note: The individual profiled in this story has served his sentence is not curently wanted for any crimes.)
In 2007 a Delaware County District Court jury found Thomas Dwayne Bales guilty of second-degree murder in the September shooting death of Robert Ferel Alberty of Colcord.
Bales who was 26-years-old at the time of the murder, was sentenced to 8 years in prison after the jury rendered their verdict.
Bales, now 46-years-old-lives in the Big Cabin area in rural Craig County. Haven been convicted in 2007 and given an eight-year sentence, he has either completely served his time or was released early on parole.
Bales has lived at various addresses in both Oklahoma and Arkansas. According to various online sources he has lived in Springdale.. Rogers, Tonitown, and Lowell in Arkansas and last resided in northwest Arkansas around 2011. If that information is correct, he would have been out on parole after about five years in prison.
His addresses in Oklahoma include stops in Colcord, Disney, Vinita, and Big Cabin. The address in Big Cabin on the Oklahoma Violent Crime Offender registry matches up with the address from other online sources as his current residence.
Other than the 2007 murder, a cursory search of online sources show no other crimes committed or convictions other than miscellaneous misdemeanor traffic citations before he went to prison.
During Bales' 2007 trial he tried to use self-defense as the reason he shot 34-year-old Alberty. Bales said he and Alberty had been arguing for several hours when Alberty showed up at Bales call card home and testified he saw a rifle in the cab of Alberty's truck. He told police, and later testified, that he saw Alberty reach for the rifle. He said he aimed the pistol in the direction of Alberty's truck, turned his head, and fired one shot.
Alberty was found dead in the front seat of his truck with a single gunshot wound to the head.
