Photo: Kevin Burch
A Fulton County man who was first charged with attempting to smuggle drugs to an inmate in the Baxter County Detention Center concealed in a Bible and later for arranging to have contraband items brought to him once he was locked up in the same jail was sentenced to 14 years in prison during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Tuesday.
Thirty-three-year-old Kevin Burch of Salem was one of three people initially charged in the conspiracy to get drugs and other items to inmate Mikel Short. The 48-year-old Short was in jail awaiting transfer to the state prison system on earlier drug-related charges.
Photo: Mikel Short
Burch was identified by the jail’s surveillance system as the person who brought the Bible to the facility Aug. 27, 2017. Jail staff found the contraband items, including methamphetamine and marijuana, before they could reach Short. Burch was not located immediately after the incident. He was arrested in California and returned to Baxter County in mid-year 2018.
Short and his long time girlfriend, Cynthia Piatt, both received prison time after pleading to a number of drug-related charges, including being involved in the plan to get illegal substances into the jail.
Photo: Cynthia Piatt
Both Short and Piatt are serving prison sentences. Short is an inmate in the Northwest Arkansas Work Release Center in Springdale, and Piatt is in the Tucker Re-entry Work Release Center.
After Burch was jailed on the smuggling charge involving Short in early July last year, authorities monitored several hours of recorded telephone calls between the Fulton County man and people on the outside, referred to as “trusted contacts.”
During the call, a person purporting to be Burch mentions the possibility of sneaking contraband items into the jail — including a cellphone and a prescription medication — for his use.
Burch was said to have attempted to speak in code during the calls. He referred to marijuana, for example, as Copenhagen wintergreen, poke salad and weed.
According to the probable cause affidavit, authorities said in 35 calls which had been checked when the affidavit was written, Burch is said to have spoken to members of his family and his girlfriend, asking them to supply him with a wide variety of items, including batteries, tobacco, marijuana, black electrical tape, a cell phone and a number of photographs.
During a search of the jail Aug. 23 last year, items Burch had requested in the calls were found in his cell.
It is alleged Burch would arrange with his outside contacts to drop requested items off at locations where inmates would be on work release, and cooperating inmates would retrieve the items and bring them back into the jail for him. The record is silent on how the items escaped detection when inmates reentered the jail, after being on work release, or how Burch knew where inmates were scheduled to be on any given day.
In addition, a 2012 pickup truck belonging to Burch was seized by the state. It had been alleged the truck was driven by Burch’s contacts when they were gathering and dropping off items intended to be brought into the jail for his use.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI