Former Flippin police chief on track for trial in July

Former Flippin Police Chief Ronald “Dusty” Smith in on track for a jury trial in July following his appearance before Circuit Judge John Putman Wednesday.In April, Smith’s request for a continuance was granted until July 12th. According to the current scheduling order in the case, Smith’s appearance Wednesday was his final opportunity for changing his plea before proceeding to a trial.

Smith was arrested last November and charged with theft of property for allegedly taking funds from the City of Flippin.

In January, the results of an investigation by the Arkansas Legislative Audit indicated the total of the funds Smith is alleged to have taken from the City of Flippin had grown to more than $63,000. The audit results were contained in a probable cause affidavit indicating a Class B felony count of theft of property had been filed against Smith, reflective of the increased dollar amount of the missing funds.

The original affidavit filed in late November followed an investigation by Arkansas State Police at the request of 14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge into the misuse of over $8,000 in funds from the City of Flippin. The investigation led to Smith’s arrest on a Class C felony count of theft of property. The amended count reflected the amount of missing property ranging from $5,000 to $25,000.

The investigation leading to Smith’s arrest was triggered when the city’s keeper of the records, identified only as a part-time employee, received an email from a bank saying the former police chief’s city credit card was within 20 percent of its limit. This was a concern because Smith was reportedly on vacation from the Flippin Police Department and heading to Florida to work for a private company. An October bank statement noted $3,700 on Smith’s card. Ninety percent of those charges were from outside the state of Arkansas.

After the request for the State Police investigation, Ethredge requested an audit by the Arkansas Legislative Audit to be conducted from January 1, 2015 to the present for any credit cards, police accounts, drug buy accounts, and any accounts associated with Smith during this time frame.

According to the latest affidavit, the auditor reported from January 1, 2015 to the present Smith misused $63,718.84 in funds from the City of Flippin.

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