(pictured above: Gary Lee Barker)
Gary Lee Barker of Mountain Home, who already faces charges in two active, drug-related criminal cases, has been arrested on drug charges yet again.
The 26-year-old Barker appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and entered a not guilty plea to the latest charges.
In his newest case, Barker was picked up Oct. 2nd, when officers responded to a complaint the caller’s neighbors, in the adjoining side of a duplex along Newton Avenue, were apparently smoking methamphetamine and the odor was seeping through the walls and ceiling of the unit occupied by the caller.
When officers arrived at the duplex, they found one of the occupants of the unit in question standing in the front door calling her dog. The officers reported they noticed the odor of marijuana coming from the interior of the residence.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the woman at the front door, identified as 48-year-old Shilo Lunsford, was offered a chance to gather the incriminating items and destroy them. If she complied, no further action would have been taken. She refused and also refused entry to the home.
When officers did eventually enter the residence, they found a number of people, including Barker, inside. Barker was reported to have been wearing a large hunting knife and a smaller knife on his right side. The knives were taken from him, and he was placed in handcuffs for officer safety.
In all, there were five people in the residence — all arrested on various drug-and-weapons charges.
When officers searched the bedroom occupied by Barker, who was identified as a live-in guest, they found a safe containing drug paraphernalia, marijuana, methamphetamine and $1,000 in cash.
Barker has been arrested and charged with a number of drug-related offenses. Most of the charges he now faces came when Barker was picked up while in the company of his mother, 50-year-old Valeory Hodges.
In one of the two original cases, Barker was arrested in mid-March while with his mother. He was charged with being in possession of methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The arrest came when the vehicle Barker and his mother occupied was stopped because of a defect, and a Mountain Home police officer noticed the “strong odor” of marijuana coming from the vehicle. Barker and his mother were escorted back to a motel room they were occupying and which had been under surveillance by police because of suspected drug activity.
Hodges was a parolee at the time and had a search waiver on file. The officers found 22 grams of methamphetamine and 54 grams of marijuana in the room, along with various items of drug paraphernalia used for the ingestion and distribution of the drugs.
An attorney representing Barker filed a motion in early September to suppress evidence in the case, arguing Barker was not on probation or parole at the time of the motel room search, and evidence gathered in the room was taken illegally where Barker was concerned and should be suppressed.
A hearing on the motion was set for Oct. 25th.
Barker was released on $20,000 bond and was placed on house arrest in May.
In the second case, Barker was arrested in February, along with his mother, when Arkansas State Police troopers and probation and parole officers with Arkansas Community Corrections made a compliance visit to Hodges’ home along West North Street in Mountain Home.
When officers entered they reported the “heavy odor” of marijuana in the residence. Barker was found in the front bedroom. When officers first looked into the room, they saw him trying to stuff a black bag under the bed. When Barker and his room were searched, officers found 53 grams of a white crystalline substance and 163 grams of marijuana.
The officers also located various items of drug paraphernalia, including digital scales and plastic bags. A loaded pistol with the serial numbers scratched off was also found in Barker’s room.
In addition to the drug-related charges, finding the weapon led to Barker being charged with simultaneous possession of drugs and firearms and possession of a defaced firearm.
Barker’s mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison late last month after pleading guilty to a string of drug-related charges against her. The state also seized slightly more than $10,300 during Hodges various arrests.
As of Friday, Hodges was in the Baxter County jail awaiting bedspace to open in the state prison system. Her son was locked up in the same jail Oct. 2nd following his latest drug arrest. Barker was ordered to reappear in circuit court Oct. 25th.
(pictured above: Valeory Virginia Hodges)
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