A Gassville man who once proclaimed the charges against him were “bogus” pled guilty to them during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Forty-one-year-old Nicholas Dwayne Garbinsky faced drug-related charges stemming from a traffic stop in early February. He was pulled over by a Mountain Home police officer at 11:30 p.m. The officer reported he was aware Garbinsky had a suspended driver’s license.
Garbinsky did not stop immediately. When he did finally come to a halt, he told the officer he was trying to get his vehicle to his residence so it would not have to be towed.
During an inventory of the vehicle following Garbinsky’s arrest, the officer found a small plastic bag containing a white crystalline substance field testing positive for methamphetamine in the center console. Marijuana was also found in the console. A glass pipe used to smoke marijuana was on the passenger’s seat of the vehicle.
During his sentencing, Garbinsky asked Circuit Judge John Putman if he could remain free until bed space in the chronically overcrowded state prison system became available. Judge Putman — citing numerous bad experiences with the arrangement — rejected the request. Garbinsky said he had family members “in a bad way” and wanted to be with them as long as possible before going to prison.
Judge Putman said other people had taken advantage of the arrangement in various ways, including not turning themselves in at the Baxter County jail as ordered. “Those people have ruined it for everyone else,” he told Garbinsky.
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