William Kennerly of Mountain Home, who was initially charged early this year with exposing a then 10-month-old infant to methamphetamine, returned to Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday to face charges of allegedly selling methamphetamine to a confidential informant working with law enforcement in early June.
According to the probable cause affidavit, the informant told investigators arrangements had been made with Kennerly to purchase the drug and that he would bring the methamphetamine to a certain location where the transaction could be completed. Kennerly arrived at the site in a small 2003 pickup truck which has now been seized by the state because of its use in the alleged drug deal.
The investigation into the original incident in which the infant was exposed to methamphetamine began when the child was taken to Baxter Regional Medical Center in late November last year after the baby was observed acting in an unusual manner. Tests were conducted at BRMC and it was determined the infant girl had been exposed to methamphetamine.
She was airlifted to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock where additional testing confirmed the presence of methamphetamine in the infant’s body.
Agents with the Arkansas Department of Human Service’s Division of Children and Family Services tested Kennerly and other people living at the residence. During interviews, it was determined Kennerly had been crushing and then snorting methamphetamine in a bathroom at the residence.
According to the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, Kennerly is alleged to have inadvertently dropped some of the methamphetamine on the floor where the infant is believed to have found and ingested the drug while crawling around in the room.
Investigators reported the baby became ill shortly after crawling on the bathroom floor. In interviews, Kennerly told investigators, to the best of his knowledge, he was the only one living in the residence using methamphetamine.
The residence was reported to belong to the parents of Kennerly’s wife — with Kennerly, his spouse, in-laws and two young children, including the one made ill by the methamphetamine, living in the house at the time. According to court records, Kennerly and his wife are no longer living together.
The wife’s parents contend after Kennerly was charged with endangering the welfare of a minor stemming from the methamphetamine incident, he was no longer allowed in their home. Shortly after those charges were filed, the grandparents filed papers to obtain guardianship of their two grandchildren. While William Kennerly was allegedly no longer living in the family home, the parents said their daughter did reside with them “when she is around.”
The guardianship filing alleges both of their grandchildren have lived with their grandparents basically their entire lives. It is further alleged both children were born outside the marriage of their daughter and William Kennerly and no legal paternity had ever been established. The grandparents contend their daughter and William Kennerly are “unfit and unwilling to care for the children and have abandoned all parental responsibilities.”
There are allegations of drug use on the part of William Kennerly and his wife, Katie Ezell-Kennerly in the guardianship filing. Katie Ezell-Kennerly’s parents point out in their request for the guardianship appointment that their daughter, the 33-year-old Katie Ezell-Kennerly and “random people” she has brought to the residence have caused disturbances resulting in the police being called four-or-five-times recently.
An emergency guardianship was approved to the grandparents in mid-May with a hearing on permanent guardianship set for July 12th.
As part of the guardianship proceedings, drug testing has been ordered for William Kennerly and Katie Ezell-Kennerly. DNA testing has also been ordered for William Kennerly to determine if he is the biological father of the children.
Katie Ezell-Kennerly was jailed May 14th on a charge of third degree domestic battery. According to an incident report from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office,there was a “physical domestic” dispute between Ezell-Kennerly and her sister on that date at the family residence. According to the report, the trip to the residence was the “third time in a couple of weeks” Sheriff’s Office personnel had responded to similar calls at the address.
Family members say Katie Ezell-Kennerly has never been in trouble until recently when they says drugs had put her on a “terrible path”.
At one point, it was alleged Katie Ezell-Kennerly had broken into the family home when her relatives were away for a short time doing errands. It was determined she had gained entry into the house through a window on the back porch. The family members told the responding deputy a pistol had been taken from a gun safe and $20 was missing from a wallet belonging to one family members. The relatives told the deputy they had found a seven page note Katie Ezell-Kennerly left on a counter.
According to the incident report, an order of protection had been taken out requiring Katie Ezell-Kennerly to stay away from the residence.
William Kennerly has entered not guilty pleas to the charges against him. He bond has now been set at $150,000 in all his cases. His earliest reappearance date is now set in mid-July
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