A Mountain Home man finally ran out of second chances and was sentenced to 10 years in prison during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Prior to Thursday, the legal system had used almost every tool available in handling 32-year-old Jason Michael Biddle’s many cases, the majority drug related.
He has been put on probation, sent to prison, spent time in the Baxter County jail, been committed to one of the Community Correction Centers in the state, ordered into the 14th Judicial District Drug Court Program, and sent to Care Center Ministries to undergo addiction treatment. He has also lost vehicles and money in forfeiture actions filed against him stemming from his drug activity.
In June 2018, Biddle was sentenced to 15 years probation after pleading guilty to four active Baxter County drug cases stemming from arrests in May, July, August and October last year.
The charges included possession of drugs and drug paraphernalia, fleeing in a vehicle, after being stopped by an Arkansas State Police trooper, bringing drugs into the Baxter County jail, carrying weapons and being a habitual offender.
It is normal for a person entering the drug court program to undergo a 90-day addiction treatment at one of the Community Corrections Centers in the state, but Biddle was permitted to enter a local treatment program operated by Care Center Ministries. He walked away from his latest stay at Care Center and failed to abide by a requirement that if he left the program, he would report immediately to the Baxter County jail.
Instead, Biddle remained free and was arrested in the early morning hours of Oct. 10th last year on a Marion County road where he had allegedly taken a female to have sex, according to the probable cause affidavit.
Drugs and drug paraphernalia were found in the vehicle. The case filed against Biddle in Marion County as a result of his October arrest remains active. He is scheduled to reappear in Marion County Circuit Court in March.
In addition to leaving Care Center Ministries and failing to complete the drug court program, Biddle is also charged in revocation petitions with violating the terms and conditions of his probation in several Baxter County cases by committing the new offense of fleeing from the Marion County deputy and for possessing drugs.
The woman Biddle was with on the Marion County road was also on probation, meaning Biddle should not have been associating with her.
Biddle has been charged — either in Baxter or Marion counties — in cases filed in 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
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