Minor injuries in plane crash at Gaston’s
One person received minor injuries in a plane crash at Gaston’s White River Resort last Sunday morning. Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery says the plane’s pilot, 46-year-old Eric Neff of Norfolk, Virginia reported he was doing a flyover at Gaston’s checking on the condition of the landing strip. He then banked hard to turn around and the engine lost power. Neff says he was going to attempt to land on the landing strip but saw pedestrians walking in his path. He was able to land the plane on its belly in a hay field near the landing strip.
The co-pilot, who reported minor injuries, and the passenger are both from Nashville, Tennessee.
The incident occurred at 10:15 Sunday morning. The aircraft is a 1996 A-36 single engine plane registered to Flygare LLC of Norfolk.
The investigation is being handled by the Federal Aviation Administration.
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MH man charged with murder claims acted in self-defense
A Mountain Home man, 60-year-old Robert Dean Penny, charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his landlord last December on Old Military Road, claims he was acting in self-defense.
Penny’s attorney, appointed public defender Mark Cooper, has filed a notice of self-defense in Baxter County Circuit Court.
Penny is facing additional charges of aggravated assault and criminal mischief following the incident reportedly originating in an argument over a noise complaint and a potential eviction, leading to the shooting death of the landowner, 71-year-old Chester Raymond Hornowski.
According to the incident report from the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office, the landlord called all of the residents together to apparently discuss the noise complaints. As the tenants began to gather, it was reported muffled gunshots could be heard. They said Penny came out of his room and announced the 71-year-old landlord was dead. He then allegedly made a threat to the other tenants on the property asking them, “You want some of this, too?” in an apparent reference to the weapon he was holding.
When officers arrived, they were told by the tenants the shooter had left the house and was at that moment headed toward his vehicle.
As the blue truck driven by Penny made a wild dash to escape the property, he came very near hitting a Baxter County Sheriff’s deputy and then crashed into Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery’s parked car. The sheriff was not in the vehicle at the time.
According to investigative reports, about 22 shots were fired. The body of the 71-year-old landowner was found with gunshot wounds to the hands, chest and face.
Penny’s jury trail is set for the week of August 20th.
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Woman who loses home to state finds another one — in the Baxter County jail
Rebecca Martin of rural Mountain Home, who was sentenced to 20 years probation in April after pleading guilty to a long string of drug trafficking charges, has now been locked up again facing charges she violated the terms and conditions of her probation handed down less than two months ago.
The 53-year-old Martin was arrested June 12th for violating probation.
She is alleged to have failed a drug test for the third time early last month, and with failing to report for a substance abuse assessment June 11th. She could face prison time based on the violations.
In addition to being placed on probation, the state was authorized to seize her home located along County Road 30.
According to the probable cause affidavits in the cases in which she was sentenced, investigators say drug-related activity has taken place at the residence for nearly two decades.
It is fairly common in charges lodged against drug buyers and sellers that the state will file motions to seize assets deemed involved in — or derived from — drug trafficking. In most cases, the property involves cash — sometimes thousands of dollars — as well as vehicles and firearms. It it less common to seize a residence as in the Martin case.
According to electronic records maintained by the Baxter Assessor’s Office, the Martin home is listed as a 1,200 square-foot-structure. It is described as a two-story log house at the end of a circle driveway.
Another twist in the case is that Martin announced in open court as her cases wound through the system she had used part of her $200,000 winnings from the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery to help retire the debt on the house which has now been forfeited to the state.
Her criminal records contain information concerning a number of controlled drug buys, many of which were allegedly made from the residence on County Road 30.
In early May last year, for example, police used a confidential informant to purchase approximately 26 grams of methamphetamine from Martin. It was reported that when the transaction between the informant and Martin took place, there were at least three other “customers” present at the home. They had reported giving Martin “front money” so she should could make a substantial purchase of methamphetamine, valued at approximately $5,000, in an out-of-state city. They had reportedly given Martin the “front money” and were at the residence to collect the “product”.
Prosecutors have been hampered in attempts to bring some of Martin’s cases to court. Three cases were deemed unwinnable and charges dismissed after courts ruled evidence against Martin had been illegally obtained, and could not be used against her.
Mountain Home Norman Wilber represented Martin in the evidence suppression hearings. In his brief supporting the motion to suppress evidence gathered during a March 25, 2015 search of Martin’s home, Wilber wrote that investigators “should be forced to comply with rules governing the preparations of probable cause affidavits seeking search warrants.
If lessons regarding those rules are not learned and practiced as a matter of course, Wilber told the court, investigators would continue to put unwinnable cases in the hands of prosectors since the state could not proceed where a majority of incriminating evidence had to be thrown out.
During Martin’s sentencing, 14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge said Martin’s lengthy probation period would permit her to be more closely supervised which has now proven true less than two months after her original sentence was handed down when she was booked into the county jail on the petitions to revoke her probation.
Martin is being held without bond in the Baxter Council jail.
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Former church youth minister enters plea to sexual assault charge
A former youth minister at a Marion County church, 39-year-old Daniel Campbell of Harrison, entered a plea of not guilty to a felony charge of sexual assault in Marion County Circuit Court Wednesday.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Campbell is alleged to have had a sexual relationship with a female who attended his church during the summer and fall of 2016 when the victim was 15 years old.
Last August, an Arkansas State Police special agent attempted to extract information from the alleged victim’s cell phone. He was only able to obtain a partial extraction, meaning any deleted files were not accessible.
Text messages located between the alleged victim and Campbell are suggestive of an inappropriate relationship between a youth minister and a minor.
In September last year, the alleged victim was interviewed at the Benton County Child Advocacy Center. She reportedly told investigators details of several incidents in their inappropriate relationship.
Online court records indicate Campbell was booked into the Marion County Detention Center on May 23rd, with bond set at $25,000.
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Harrison restaurant owner turns himself in
The owner of a restaurant in Harrison has turned himself in to police. A warrant was issued for 67-year-old Donald William Alexander, the owner of the Hot Dog Shoppe, June 7th.
Alexander, who has several aliases, has been charged with five counts of identity fraud.
Springfield television station KYTV reports police raided the restaurant in April and seized hidden cameras, computers and hard drives. Authorities also found documents with multiple names, dates of births and Social Security numbers which have been turned over to Homeland Security.
The business has been closed since the raid.
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