Photos: Joshua David Dunn, Kristy Sue Wood and Joseph Michael Lopez
Three people in a vehicle stopped by a Baxter County deputy sheriff on State Highway 5 South early this month had one thing in common — they had all run afoul of the law in one way or another.
One was on parole, one on probation and the third had a suspended driver’s license and was in self-admitted possession of a handgun, a major mistake if drugs are also involved.
Two of the three people had search waivers on file, one of the conditions of being on parole or probation.
When the vehicle was searched, the deputy found methamphetamine and a pipe used to ingest the drug. All three were arrested and taken to the Baxter County Detention Center. They were:
Thirty-two-year-old Joshua David Dunn of Norfork who was listed as a parolee under active supervision by an Arkansas Community Correction officer. He also has an open criminal case stemming from a visit to his home along County Road 643 by sheriff’s investigators. The investigators were reported to have wanted to talk to Dunn in connection with a burglary case.
The lawmen found drugs and drug paraphernalia in the residence. Dunn is due to reappear in Baxter County Circuit Court Oct. 3 on the existing case.
Dunn was given 48 months in prison on a drug-related case in 2017. He was arrested when police were called to a Mountain Home convenience store after Dunn had been observed passed out in his vehicle parked beside a gas pump for about three hours. Drugs and drug paraphernalia were found, according to police reports.
Forty-year-old Kristy Wood of rural Mountain Home was found to be on probation, after the deputy made the stop on the vehicle in which the three people were traveling. Wood also had an active arrest warrant. In addition to the new charges stemming from the traffic stop, Wood has two other active drug-related criminal cases.
Thirty-six-year-old Joseph Lopez, who listed a Mountain Home address on paperwork he completed for the company putting up his bail bond. He told officers he had possession of the handgun. At the time of the traffic stop this month, Lopez was shown to have had the cleanest criminal record of any member of the trio — with past infractions being mainly misdemeanors.
As a result of the vehicle search following the traffic stop, Lopez now faces drug charges, as well as simultaneous possession of drug and firearms, a Class Y felony, the most serious class of crime in Arkansas not punishable by death.
Both Dunn and Wood appeared during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and entered not guilty pleas to the charges stemming from the recent traffic stop. Both were ordered to reappear in circuit court Thursday. Lopez was ordered to appear on the same date. He was the only one of the three who did not appear last Thursday.
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